Dark Places
by LadyMarpesia
Summary: Pansy Parkinson had been to many dark places, but after a fateful night, she realizes she might have been to the darkest one yet. Facing punishment alongside her betrothed, Draco, the stoic villainess of Slytherin starts to watch her perfect life crumble around her, especially when she and Draco go rogue and begin helping the boy who lived, and the brightest witch of their age.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was scorching down on her shoulders, the heat sinking into her black robes. She was standing toward the back of the crowd, not seated, head slightly bent so that her thick dark bangs covered her eyes serving almost like a mourning veil. On either side of her stood Crabbe and Goyle, muscled arms pressed against her, making her feel even more hot, though she would rather feel their protection than nothing at all. The two oafs had opted to stay back and watch over the rest of their gang, left behind as Draco had fled. Behind her stood Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, and Theodore Nott. Usually Crabbe and Goyle served as bodyguards for Draco, but since he had gone into hiding, Pansy became the unofficial leader of the most-hated students in Hogwarts.

They were not welcome here, at the funeral for a man that had been murdered by some of their own. It was evident in the way peoples shot outright hostile glares toward them, making harsh comments and all but drawing their wands on them.

"Why are we here again?" Daphne breathed quietly, her breath tickling the hairs on the back of Pansy's neck. "Everyone wants to attack us."

"It's all part of the game, Daff," Pansy murmured back, keeping her body unmoving so as not to sweat further. She silently cast another cooling charm on herself. The minister was still going on and on in his speech about their slain headmaster. "They are waiting for us to slip, waiting for us to show some sort of discrepancy, anything to prove where we truly stand."

"We don't really stand anywhere," Blaise muttered darkly, which was unfortunately also true. They didn't have the mark, yet they also weren't exactly opposed to it either. Time simply hadn't presented itself, they hadn't needed to openly declare themselves to anyone, though they silently sided with their pureblooded families.

"How much longer?" Tracey sighed and leaned against Theodore, who grudgingly let her. Her two friends looked more like siblings than boyfriend and girlfriend, but Pansy still had to admit they were attractive. Both tall, slight, with glossy brown hair and alert blue eyes. Theodore was bookish, sarcastic, and rather hard to strike up conversation with. Tracey was pouty, gossipy, and quite keen on becoming a housewife, which she would be soon. She and Theo were meant to be married within the year, have been betrothed since before they could walk.

Almost all of them were betrothed in fact.

Daphne and Blaise would be married within the year as well. Daphne, blonde and willowy with glossy eyes and slightly air-headed demeanor, flirtatious with almost every man she came across. Blaise was Hogwart's resident Casanova, going through witches like water, though his heart remained true to Daphne, no matter how skewed. It was easy for him to win over women, with his smooth dark skin and soulful green eyes, perfect smile that could charm anyone. They were a toxic couple, loving to each other but also constantly at war because they both could not remain faithful no matter how much they promised.

Millicent would marry Goyle. They were both obedient, big-boned, and tall. Millicent didn't say much, but she was loyal and always defended Pansy above anyone else. Goyle wasn't much of a talker either, and he too tended to put his duty of protecting Draco above all else, though everyone once in a while Pansy would catch him being sweet and affectionate to Millie. They both genuinely liked each other, it was a very comfortable match. Goyle was her favorite of Draco's friends, and Millie was the closest thing to a best friend that she had.

That left Pansy and Draco, who were betrothed since birth, and Crabbe, who would most likely marry Daphne's little sister, Astoria, in a few years.

Pansy and Draco were fascinating in their own right, having grown up together as best friends, always aware that they would be married as soon as they were of age. Draco was arrogant, dramatic, and hot-tempered. Pansy was Machiavellian, dark, and haughty. They were well-matched, something that their elders praised whenever they were seen together. Pansy might as well have introduced herself as a Malfoy the moment she started school, because everyone in the wizarding world knew exactly whom she would marry. However, there wasn't much romance between she and Draco, as they truly operated best at frenemies, occasionally betraying the other, but also sacrificing others to benefit each other.

She was slightly peeved that Draco had fled the night of Dumbledore's murder, not even a week ago, and left her behind to keep their friends out of trouble. She had entered the common room where Crabbe and Goyle were pacing, they had quickly ordered her to go up to her room where Tracey, Daphne, and Millie were sleeping and bring the girls down to the common room for the rest of the night.

"Fine, but where's Draco?" She kept protesting as they all but forced her into the staircase leading to the rooms.

"Draco left," Goyle rumbled in her ear, "Pans...where were you?" She had remained silent at that, no longer fighting the brutes as they physically pushed her up the stairs toward the room, enchantments in place that prevented them from following her. She had roused her three sleeping friends, whispering, "we have to stay together tonight, Draco—it didn't work out, he had to leave." Daphne had whimpered and tears had fallen, Tracey, too. Millie didn't cry, but she certainly looked nervous and had quickly gathered blankets to bring with them. Pansy remained silent.

 _The plan had been simple enough, yet backfired horribly. Draco had raised a shaking hand to deliver the final blow, the last unforgiveable curse, and had choked. Her own deep green eyes had turned dark as her lips parted, frozen, and she listened to Bellatrix Lestrange screech at her nephew to finish the job. Severus Snape had pushed past her, shoving her aside, and she had pulled herself up off the floor of the tower, watched as a brilliant green light flashed and Albus Dumbledore fell from the tower, to his death. She had already been drunk, drinking herself silly before they had gone up there, but now she felt like everything was moving too fast around her. The world had exploded, Draco was in shock, as was she, and she had gotten to him, wrapping her arms around him pulling him back as The Order of the Phoenix arrived and they began battling. Taking Draco's hand, they had fled alongside Bellatrix out of the castle and onto the grounds as Harry Potter himself chased them, screaming at them. She had fallen._

 _Staring up into the eyes of an enraged Potter, she had expected him to kill her, but instead he had just shook her head in disgust and walked away._

 _Bellatrix lit Hargrid's hut on fire, and she turned her head to watch as brilliant scarlet and orange flames lit up the night sky, she thought she saw a shooting star. She was waiting for Draco to come back for her, but he never came. She finally got up and went back to the castle, unseeing, mind roaring around her, not realizing where she was going._


	2. Chapter 2

Part One. Chapter Two.

"Darling, darling, doesn't have a problem

Lying to herself 'cause her liquor's top shelf

It's alarming honestly how charming she can be

Fooling everyone, telling them she's having fun

She says, "You don't want to be like me

Don't wanna see all the things I've seen."

I'm dying, I'm dying

She says, "You don't want to get this way

Famous and dumb at an early age."

Lying, I'm lying."

-Lana Del Rey "Carmen"

They had hunkered down in the common room that night, sleeping on the floor and couches, silent and waiting; waiting to hear from Draco, their parents, or to see if the aurors would come and question them. Pansy had pulled her silver flask from under her pillow, occasionally sipping "just to keep the buzz."

The following day at breakfast, a sleep deprived and slightly hungover Pansy had been surprised to see a note waiting for her at her plate.

 _Keep everyone together. See you soon when you get home. Sorry. –D_

She had also noticed that Crabbe had one on his plate, addressed to him and Goyle. Draco had instructed them to protect her for the rest of their time at school. Pansy was critical to the continuance of the Malfoy line. Sure, another pureblooded witch could be found, but when a betrothal was made, it was sealed in blood. Pansy would become the next Lady Malfoy.

After that morning, Pansy had made sure she knew where everyone was, and when she was summoned to speak with Professor McGonagall, Goyle accompanied her while Crabbe stayed behind with the others in the room of requirement.

"Miss Parkinson, surely we can speak without Mr. Goyle accompanying you," McGonagall had huffed, sitting behind the headmasters desk. Pansy was perched on a plush armchair across from her, trying not to make eye contact with the portrait of Dumbledore behind the professor. She focused on the threading of her black silk stocking as Goyle paced behind her. Her knees were bruised and scraped beneath them.

"Greg," Pansy had murmured, "wait at the bottom of the stairs." The boy had rumbled at that, looking torn, but she snapped her fingers and he reluctantly obeyed, thundering down the stairs.

"Miss Parkinson, I simply am going to cut to the chase here, so to speak," McGonagall said as she studied her over her spectacles. "Professor Dumbledore is dead, and there are certain….allegations hanging around."

"What exactly are you asking of me, professor?" She had clenched her fists but straightened her shoulders, sitting up straight. She knew every move she made was critical and she had to remain composed.

"Some say that Mr. Malfoy had assistance in the planning for the assassination of our headmaster," McGonagall had finally said, studying Pansy for a reaction.

"He didn't," Pansy lied easily. "He's acted strange all year, withdrawn, we never knew what he was doing, or why he would want to." Lying was easy to her, as easy breathing. One might even say that Pansy was a pathological liar, yet she wasn't really. Pansy lied when it suited her, yet she also wielded the truth like a burning hot iron, striking out at anyone she pleased. She had been raised with the rule "speak only when spoken to", thus it allowed her to observe things, know things, see things that others did not. She knew that she and McGonagall were not truly alone in the office. Oh no, she was fully aware of the team of aurors that were not only sitting behind the tapestry in the corner, occasionally catching the sound of one scratching his neck or the other shifting in his chair, but also the ones combing the school for her friends at that very moment. This knowledge was why it was critical that she needed to lie, and lie well.

"So you are saying you had no hand in this?" Professor McGonagall leaned forward, brow furrowed, disbelief written clearly on her face. "Where were you then, on that night?"

"I was in bed, asleep." Later, in the night, or was it morning? Stars, everything that night was one big blur, so much was left to guesswork.

"Do you have any proof?"

She was pulled back from her reverie at that, and doing as her mother had taught her, narrowed her green eyes at the deputy headmistress and put on her sourest expression she owned as she leaned forward.

"Do I need any? I told you, _professor_ , I was sleeping. I know just as much about that night as you do." McGonagall had closed her eyes at that, nose wrinkling, and Pansy vaguely wondered if the professor could smell firewhiskey on her breath.

"I believe you, Miss Parkinson," She had said though she knew she was lying. "One last question and then I'll let you return to your dormitory to pack."

Pansy had nodded slightly, tension coiling in her stomach as she braced herself for the moment that she could leave and return to her friends in safety and solitude. Truth be told, they had been packed just in case for weeks, their trunks shrunken and kept in the pockets of their robes. They walked about the school when they needed to, hiding away when they didn't. They were the enemy now, outnumbered, counting down the minutes until they could leave.

"Where is Draco now?"

Her head snapped up to meet Professor McGonagall's eyes, heart thudding in her ears.

"For his sake, hopefully very far away," she said and all at once, the tension came to a head and disbursed. McGonagall stood up, finished, and waved her hand dismissing her, face disgusted as if even being in Pansy's presence was sickening. Pansy stood up, quick but not too quick, and slowly strolled out of the office and down the stairs.

Goyle met her at the bottom, tucked her arm in his, and quickly led her back up to the fifth floor to where their friends were waiting. Before entering the Room of Requirement, Greg had stopped her.

"Pansy, I could hear her, I waited on the stairs," He said slowly. "You said you were in bed that night, but I saw you leaving the tower with Draco and the others, and then…and then…" He gave her a slow measured look. "I watched you come back into the castle, P, and we waited for you in the common room, but you were gone for a long time in between that. Where were you?"

She remained silent, darkness seeping into her bones. She had been to many dark places, but this time it was different, it was worse.

"They found a body, P, Gibbon's." Goyle murmured quietly to her, "he was right by our common room, tucked in an alcove. Do you…do you know what happened to him?"

Pansy felt like the world was rushing around her ears.

"No," she said. "I didn't see it." Greg had just looked at her for a moment, searching her face, but finally he just shrugged and followed her inside, and he hadn't mentioned it since. She didn't know how to admit that she didn't remember what had happened after she had gotten up and gone back to the castle, that there was a chunk of time blacked out between then and when she was pushing into the common room. All she could remember was a man's shout of "NO!" and a flash of blonde hair, and it didn't make any sense to her.

And now here they were, departing Hogwarts for the summer, or perhaps longer, they weren't sure. Crammed into a compartment, they had locked it and silenced it for privacy, sinking down onto the familiar plush benches.

"My parents are sending Astoria and I to France for the summer," Daphne had said after an hour or so, breaking the silence, "to our summer home on the coast." Her younger sister, Astoria, a fourth year, was sprawled on the floor, brown hair neatly plaited. Pansy was amused to see that every once in a while, the younger girl would drift her fingers across Crabbe's ankle or foot and he would flush crimson.

"Sounds lovely," Tracey had finally forced out, giving a slight uncomfortable cough. "Will you be visiting, Blaise?" She looked upon Daphne's sulking boyfriend. Blaise was well into his cup, as one Pansy, but they didn't acknowledge it, or to their friends. It was an unspoken secret between them. Blaise and Pansy drank to deal with their problems, Draco went off and did heavens knows what, Daphne slept around, and Greg and Crabbe punched things. It was the natural balance.

"Hope to, mum is making me go to Italy with her for the summer, wants me to stay close." Blaise had mumbled, his hand tightening on Daphne's knee. Pansy caught a whiff of cinnamon and grimaced, tasting it thick on her tongue.

"Well, we have some news," Tracey piped up, trying to ease the tension in the room. She grabbed Theo's hand and squeezed it tightly, his face was expressionless, and had been, for the whole week. "We are going to get married, in two weeks time! Isn't that exciting, yeah?"

"Two weeks? I thought you were waiting the year?" Blaise quirked an eyebrow.

"Our parents thought it best," Theo said quietly. "My father offered us his hunting lodge in Oceania to stay at, Tracey'll stay there while I go and finish off my final year."

Pansy plastered a smile across her face as Daphne and Astoria oohed and ahhed over the news, chattering away about the wedding plans, "would they be able to come?" Pansy knew what Theo and Tracey weren't saying: _our families think a war is about to break out, so we need to secure our bloodline and keep our heads down_. Tracey was a social girl, a few months ago she would have been angry over being told that she couldn't finish out her schooling with her friends and Theo, now the poor girl looked relieved.

Pansy wouldn't be surprised if none of the girls returned to school in the fall, even herself. It was obvious to her that Daphne and Astoria were never leaving their summer home in France unless they were getting married, and Millie most likely wouldn't return either. Hell, Pansy wouldn't even be surprised if her parents told her that she was marrying Draco in two weeks time as well.

She remained silent as she tuned out her friends chatter, leaning her forehead against the window, pressed against Goyle's side. Goyle and Crabbe were big hulking young men, towering over her, and almost everyone else. Crabbe was more muscle, with large arms and a thick chest, he didn't say much and wasn't necessarily bright, but he was loyal like a hound. Goyle was just big, burly, and solid. He was more conversationable depending on whom the company was, and he had a secret passion for chess. Pansy often curled up next to him or Draco while they played chess, she doing homework or talking about the happenings of school. It wasn't often that Pansy could be soft, rarely was she, but she was able to relax the most around Greg and Draco, and she appreciated that. She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep.

They arrived at King's Cross and she was helped off the train. Quickly exchanging hugs, she promised the girls she would write and attend any weddings, before she punched Blaise and Theo goodbye, demanding that they treat their women with respect. Then, she was being led away by Greg and Vinny, off the platform and toward the leaky cauldron. Ducking inside, Pansy noted that there was a darkness hanging over everyone inside, like mildew. She had taken to freezing her face of emotion lately, and she did so now, face cold and blank, small hands wrapped around the biceps of her betrothed's bodyguards. She was led upstairs where a portkey was waiting, and moments later, a familiar feeling of being pulled by hook behind her navel, she landed gracefully outside Malfoy Manor.

Hesitating outside the gate that led up the long drive, a feeling of dread overwhelmed her. In her years at Hogwarts, she had tortured muggle born students, spread rumors and exposed classmates, helped lead an inquisitorial squad, and plotted the murder of her headmaster. Nothing intimidated her, except being in the presence of The Dark Lord.

"Come, Pans," Crabbe tugged her and she slowly began her journey up the drive. What was it, facing their master, that made her suddenly feel dirty? Not that she would ever admit it out loud, not that she understanding her feeling, but she knew the punishments that would come from it.

The drive was lined with perfectly groomed rosebushes, fragrance filling the warm air, perfectly white gravel under their feet. Hedges shielded gardens, stables, a maze, and intricate courtyards with tinkling fountains. As they drew nearer to the sprawling manor, all white marble and columns, she spotted the familiar pair of albino peacocks that Draco's father, Lucius, treasured. She could feel the immensely powerful wards parting over them, flowing over them like water, allowing them entry up the steps to the front doors. Gold serpent knockers hung on the oak doors, charmed to only open for pureblooded hands, emerald jeweled eyes glittering at them. She raised her small pale hand and ran a finger across a bared fang, and moments later, the doors slowly swung open, granting them entrance.

Inside, the manor was dark, all wood panels and stone, a feeling of darkness penetrating everything. The doors slammed shut behind them, and Pansy sensed a ward tingling in the distance, alerting the occupants to their arrival. Breaths later, the lady of the manor, and her future mother-in-law, Narcissa Malfoy entered the front hall.

"Pansy, darling, finally you are here!" Narcissa crooned though not overly animated. The woman was beautiful, aged beautifully, with platinum hair and shadowy blue eyes, dressed in swirling robes that cost hundreds of galleons no doubt.

"Mrs. Malfoy, it's been too long!" Pansy cooed back, her own eyes emotionless but a smile plastered on her face. She could sense the anxiety rolling off of Narcissa in waves, though neither woman would acknowledge it. She also appeared thinner, her eyes strained and tired. This was a woman who was losing sleep, who was avoiding reality.

"Draco has been waiting impatiently to be reunited with you, he has missed you so!" Narcissa touched her cheek and Pansy smiled slightly more naturally. She did genuinely like Narcissa, though the woman was quite stiff and always seemed to have ulterior motives, but Pansy supposed she was quite the same way. Narcissa simply was a classic beauty, a perfectly honed pureblooded housewife, a lady with a plan.

Pansy lacked the charm, the gentleness, and the authenticity needed to live up to Narcissa's level. While Narcissa was all woman, Pansy bordered on being too domineering to be considered attractive, though she knew she was pretty enough to make up for it. Pansy was quite petite, standing no more than five feet tall. She had a nymph-like air to her, with a small elfin angular face, like a fox. Smooth pale skin, not marred by a single freckle or blemish, her skin so pale it was almost translucent. Eyes were a deep emerald color, hair rich ebony that hung straight and was cut to frame around her chin, bangs hiding her slightly too-high forehead. She was slight, lacking womanly curves, and had a habit of wearing all black, also not very becoming of a woman who was supposed to be less obvious about her darker pursuits. To contrast, Narcissa was dressed in all white.

Draco wasn't very attracted to her, that she knew for certain, but that did not stop him from stealing a kiss here and there, wrapping his arms around her waist, or pulling her into a broom closet after a particularly nasty fight. Pansy often caught him checking out curvier, fuller women, women with breasts and pert behinds, and would become enraged at the sight, because she knew he did far worse, and she knew the girls that he did so with. Even thinking about it now sent an acrid taste in her mouth and her vision blurry with anger.

"Where is he?" Pansy was all but trembling, and flashes of memories flickered in her head. Draco, body pumping, a mewling girl, pale legs wrapped around his waist as he threw his head back and-

"Upstairs in the library, go to him, I have snacks waiting for you four in the kitchens, away from everything," Narcissa smoothed her hair. "Come boys, let's give the two love birds a moment alone, but not for too long."

The older woman had given a dry chuckle and led the two brutes out of the entrance hall with her. Pansy, seething, had climbed the staircase up two floors, down long wood paneled hallways with lush green and gold oriental carpets, to the imposing oak doors of the library.

Fingers shaking, she had pushed open the door, and come face to face with Draco, the man who continually betrayed her.


	3. Chapter 3

Part One. Chapter Three

AN: Sorry for the delay/and technical errors! Took me a while to get this chapter to post. Anywho, here we go, the plot thickens!

* * *

"Draco," she growled, coming face to face with her betrothed. He was beautiful to look at, a fallen angel, and like always, she had trouble remembering why she was always angry with him.

"Pansy," He gave her his signature mega-watt smile, "my beloved." He held his arms out to her, but she stayed back, her lips in a pout, eyebrows so narrowed she thought her face would crack.

"You're seriously mad right now, P?" He sneered at her, lowering his arms. He was ugly when he made faces like that. "I sent a note, I don't know what else I was supposed to do! Actually, I didn't really _have_ to do anything."

"That's just the point, Dray," she snarled, "you sent a note with a simple "sorry" and "take care of the gang" after you _left_ me!" Angry tears were threatening to spill and so she dug her long sharpened nails into her palms fighting them.

"Potter was closing in, and he didn't even touch you," Draco countered and already she could see he was getting bored with their conversation. He was always getting bored whenever their "relationship" was an issue. They could joke and be friends all day long, but to go sail into the waters of intimacy always created tsunamis. She watched him stride to the huge shelves that lined the two story tall library, gleaming and perfectly maintained. The Malfoy library hosted more books and was bigger than Hogwarts's. Draco often haunted the Malfoy library, because despite his looks, he really was smart. A glittering chandelier hung from the ceiling and sent prisms of refracted light around, small rainbows, that glinted against his platinum hair.

"Maybe he should have," Pansy hissed, "then at least someone would be." She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling sick that she was getting so vulnerable, with Draco of all people. They could get sentimental on occasion, he was the easiest person to besides Greg or Millie, but still, they operated best when they pretended to feel nothing.

"Is that what this is about, darling?" Draco returned to her, and she let him pull her into his arms. She didn't crane her neck up to look at him or rest her head against his lower chest this time, she simply stared forward, nose pressed against him, rigid. Usually she felt delicate in his arms, right then she felt so fragile that if he moved she would shatter into a million pieces.

"I saw you," she breathed, "I saw you that night, before you came to the common room to get me." Her heart was beating rapidly and she could feel the blood rushing from her face. "I saw you with _her_."

And there it was. Laid out on the table, the thing that had been troubling her for days now. What had led her to black out, and what was slowly stirring flashbacks that truly troubled her.

"Pans," Draco sighed and rubbed her arms gently. He didn't say anything and she bit her lip. He wouldn't deny it, Draco didn't often lie to her, unless it was about _her_ , and he had been called out now.

"D'you love her?" She whispered after a moment of uncomfortable silence. She felt him choke slightly, stiffen, before returning to petting her.

"I don't love anyone, P," he said finally. "maybe mother and father, but even then, I can't ever be sure, sometimes I think I feel it for you, but then I lose it right away." He ran a hand through his brilliant silk hair shakingly, "you are my best friend, Pansy, and I know that doesn't count for much, but it's always been you, by my side, and I've always been by your side, and if that's not some sort of love, then I don't really know what is."

She wasn't sure who started it, but suddenly she was pulled up and clutch his face between her hands so hard that her nails dug into his pale skin and sent ribbons of blood running down his cheeks. Her legs wrapped around him tightly. He was grasping her hair tightly, painfully, in one hand and his other was gripping her hip as if he wanted to crumble the bones beneath her skirt between his fingers. Their lips crashed against each other in a frenzy of tongue and teeth and hot kisses. Tears ran down her face as they grinded their bodies against together and he slammed her against a bookshelf, trailing kisses down her neck.

They never took it to the next level, they weren't supposed to, waiting for their damned wedding day, but in that moment she might have let him, simply for the purpose of feeling something. His words had made her feel empty, not because they hurt her feelings, because she found they didn't, it made her feel empty because she felt the same awful way.

"I won't ever love you," she gasped against his lips, "I don't even want to marry you." He gave a dark laugh at that, hand toying with the hem of her skirt.

"We have to," he growled, voice rough. They stilled at his words, breathing heavily, chests heaving against each other. She leaned her forehead against his as they caught their breaths.

"Why'd you really want me to meet you here alone?" She asked as she slid down from him, untangling herself. She moved away, quickly casting a charm to smooth her clothes and to fix her hair. Her eyes and lips would remain bruised and swollen, evidence of sleepless nights and frenzied kisses between sad-excuses of lovers that should have just remained friends.

"About that," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There are rumors going around about you, and The Dark Lord might be a little…upset."

She tensed at this, turning from him. She suddenly became very interested in the pattern of the rug beneath their feet.

"Pans, Rowle saw you," Draco murmured behind her carefully. "Rowle saw you…you killed Gibbon, you crucio'd him and then you…you killed him."

She squeezed her eyes shut at that, willing the memories that had slowly been coming back to go away, far away.

"Pansy?" Draco broke through her thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" She muttered.

"Why did you kill Gibbon?"

She clenched her hands again. How did she begin to explain? Well, she had better start, because she knew would be standing before The Dark Lord very soon and he certainly wouldn't take an "I don't know" as an answer.

"His daughter," she whispered. She could sense Draco tensing up at this, stiffening. She knew he didn't want to question her further, and knew his silence said enough.

"That explains why she hasn't wrote me in over a week," Draco said at last. Pansy just sighed and straightened her clothes, shaking, fighting the urge not to vomit.

Draco didn't even look at her now, and she knew she had finally gone too far. She trailed behind him as he stalked through the manor, leading her to the ballroom, to the place where she would stand for judgment. Narcissa had simply been stalling, letting Draco warn her, there were no snacks waiting in the kitchen. Everyone was waiting for her. She wished someone would just off her, wished Draco would just turn around fire a killing curse at her.

It had been two days since she had woke up in the dead of night, throwing up and gasping for air as she realized what she had done.

They approached the ballroom too soon, and he didn't even look at her as he pushed inside, walking through the dimly light room to stand beside his mother and Greg and Vinny. She slowly made her way to stand before The Dark Lord, who sat in a chair very similar to a throne, staring her down.

"Miss Parkinson…." Voldemort hissed, "I'm not sure why you thought it wise to keep me waiting…" She flinches as his words hit her like daggers. She wanted to throw up, or even pee her knickers.

"I-I h-had to s-speak with D-Draco," she choked out and slowly sank to kneel before the man who would decide her fate.

"I assume you know why you stand before me, wasting my time, so unfavorably?" Her Lord growled and she trembled. Her own parents hadn't even shown up to support her, she felt so little that a mouse could stomp on her.

"Yes." She breathed and tears began to run down her face. He was asking her for an explanation, but she began to gasp for air, having a full on panic attack. She felt him invade her mind and she screamed in ago, pressing her forehead to the ground as he dug through her memories.

 _She was standing in a deserted corridor, and there was Draco, who didn't know she was even there. He had a different girl that was not Pansy pressed against the wall, his trousers around his ankles. Draco, body pumping, a mewling girl, pale legs wrapped around his waist as he threw his head back and she caught sight of the girls face._

 _Freya Gibbon: the beautiful, lustful, wanton siren of a witch that was a year below them in Slytherin. Her full bust and curvaceous behind were the product of every boys fantasies, her short skirts showing off way more than was respectable of a girl of pure-blooded status. Pansy had despised her the moment the girl had hit puberty._

 _Freya had been fleeing the school with her father when Pansy caught them outside the common room that terrible night. Remus Lupin and Rowle had burst in and Gibbon had left his daughter behind to join the duel. Enraged upon seeing the girl who was threatening the marriage she was being forced into, Pansy attacked._

 _Crucio after crucio after crucio. She was numb as she stared down at the sobbing, pleading girl, her wand raised to deliver the curse again just as it began to let up. Freya's nose had been broken in the force of her spasms, blood oozing down her face, and already the fight was leaving her body._

 _All she could see was her future, where she would be stuck inside a dark manor with small blonde children waiting for a father that seemed to never be home. When he did get home, he would be drunk and smelling of other women, and she wouldn't be able to say a single thing. Not a word, because she was trapped, and would only be useful when he or The Dark Lord called on her. So much like her parents marriage, two people that truly resented each other almost as much as they resented her._

 _Stars, even her own parents wouldn't ever love her._

 _Gibbon had thrown Pansy aside, coming to his daughter's defense, and they had begun to duel, Rowle still fighting off Lupin._

" _I'm sorry, I'm done, I'm sorry, I blacked out," She had cried out, trying to fend off the mans curses. "Let me go, I won't touch her, I'm done, I wasn't thinking, I'm too drunk I wasn't-"_

 _But he wasn't going to let up, he was out for blood. Sobbing, Pansy tried to get him to understand that she was drunk and hurting and scared and that she would never touch Freya again, she would stop, but he wouldn't listen._

 _She managed to throw him back, and he lost his balance, stumbling. Freya looked up at her, terror in her eyes as her father stood up once more to keep attacking Pansy._

 _She knew she didn't have a choice, her back was against the wall, literally. Either she killed him, or he killed her._

 _She cast the curse that would kill Gibbon right in front of his daughter and watched as the same green light she had witnessed earlier sprang from her own wand this time, watched as the man crumbled before her and Freya screamed._

 _She had backed away slowly as the girl sobbed over her father, turning to flee the corridor when she caught Rowle staring at her in shock. He let her pass, frozen, as she ran for dear life. Lupin had gotten away._

 _Falling into an empty classroom where she threw up the contents of her stomach, she willed herself to take her own life, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had begun to pound her head against the ground until she was unconscious._

 _Waking up, she was numb and didn't remember why she was there. She gotten up and feeling her bruised and swollen forehead, she cast a quick healing charm, not remembering who she had fought to get it, or why. She entered the corridor to Slytherin, which was empty, and pushed into the common room, where Greg and Vinny were waiting for her._


	4. Chapter 4

Part One. Chapter Four.

AN: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I only own Freya Gibbon. And Batty. Thank you for all the love - especially to my devoted reviewer, JuliSt! Everyone feel free to send some reviews, or simply say hello, it's so helpful and appreciated! -O

* * *

She was throwing up again, all over the pristine marble floors as Lord Voldemort ripped free of his hold on her mind. The Death Eaters present were shifting, uncomfortable and muttering to each other, confused.

"Such a weak little girl," Lord Voldemort jeered at her. "You let your foolish jealousy over a man already promised to you turn you into a blithering bitching female."

She roared in anguish as he dove back into her mind, this time forcing her to relive memories from not even twenty minutes before.

 _"I won't ever love you," Pansy had gasped against Draco's lips, "I don't even want to marry you."_

"Stupid girl, do you really think you can decide who you marry and who you don't?" The Dark Lord stood from his seat. "What if we all just decided to marry whom we wanted? What if we allowed our children? Risking the possibility of being faced with disrespectful idiots like you, who thought they had a choice, perhaps running toward blood-traitors, mudbloods, or worse, muggles."

She had shuddered, listening to his followers shout and protest, calling her a whore and a traitor.

"You must wish to pollute our kind, to bring filth into this world, to swill the honor of the pure-blooded authority!" Lord Voldemort had shouted, pacing around her.

"N-n-no, m-my L-Lord, never," she pleaded, trying to sit up from her huddled position on the floor.

"And you, Draco," The Dark Lord had turned his penetrating red-gaze on her betrothed. "Do you think you can entertain others? That your betrothed is not enough of a gift? Miss Parkinson was picked for you so that you could mate her and bring us more pureblooded witches and wizards. If I had wanted you to do so with someone else, I would have made it so!"

Draco had flinched and his mother had turned anguished eyes onto her son, a look of betrayal on his face. His father remained unmoving beside him, not saying a word.

"I think that Draco and Miss Parkinson have grown weak," Lord Voldemort hissed. "Draco failed in his assignment to kill an even weaker old man, and Miss Parkinson has taken to torturing pure-blooded children and killing my own followers."

Shouts of outrage broke out as everyone realized that she had in fact killed Gibbon. If she wasn't murdered soon out of revenge, she would be shocked.

"So what do we do with weakness? Do we simply weed it out…" He murmured silkily, like a snake, "and waste such young youthful promise…or do we force it to bend and strengthen, to force it out?"

Pansy froze, just as she knew Draco and his parents had. Narcissa was holding her breath and Lucius's fingers twitched toward his wand, but refrained.

"I should like to see how well of a whipping boy Miss Parkinson makes," Lord Voldemort remarked after a moment of tense silence. "In order to correct her sudden desire for violence, and to force Draco into understanding the dire consequences of failure."

 _"Please, just kill me instead,"_ Pansy thought as horror flooded through her.

"Now, now, Miss Parkinson, I can assure you, death would be a far easier way out." He had read her thoughts. "You will wish for death almost constantly from here on out, because every time Draco fails, you fail, and you will be the one punished."

Draco opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out.

"Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, perhaps this form of therapy will strengthen your bond even more, make you realize just how much the two of you need each other."

She was fighting the bile rising in her throat, blood and snot dripping from her nose as she silently sobbed.

"Let us start now, shall we? Draco failed just last week, and since Miss Parkinson has expressed such a deep affection for the cruciatus curse…"

She hadn't even processed his words before her body was struck with blinding pain. Eyes screwed shut, she heard screaming and realized it was her own ripping her throat raw. It felt like she was being hit by a thousand trains, burning alive, and drowning in her own blood all at once.

A moment of nothingness, and then the curse again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

 _She was sitting in Advanced Potions class, having successfully brewed Draught of Living Death and was cleaning up her materials. She felt a dark presence behind her and she turned to see what Professor Snape wanted, but instead of the familiar greasy-haired man, it was Gibbon. He was staring at her with anger and she opened her mouth to ask him how he was able to be standing, he was dead, when suddenly her cauldron was overflowing with blood and the sound of screaming rang in her eyes. She tried to tell Gibbon she was sorry, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth and nothing would come out._

"Pansy!"

Her eyes flashed open and she jolted awake, realizing she was lying on the floor of the ballroom in Malfoy Manor. Draco was kneeling beside her, hovering over her, staring down at her with a mixture of pity and irritation.

She couldn't move. Every muscle in her protested as she tried to sit up. Her face was stiff, dried blood and tears and snot and vomit. She was disgusting. Grimacing, Draco pulled her into his arms and stood, cradling her bridal style. The room was empty and she realized she must have been unconscious for some time.

"Really made a mess of things, now," Draco said under his breath as he carried her out of the damned room and began trekking toward his wing of the manor. Pansy simply squeezed her burning eyes shut, she thought she might have broken blood vessels in them at some point.

"We both have to be careful from now on, P," Draco said as he entered his chambers, carrying her straight into his bathroom. He sat her in the empty claw foot tub. "I don't think I can stomach watching you be tortured because of me, it nearly killed me." He smoothed the matted hair from her forehead at that. "No matter what our differences, you are my best friend, I won't let you be hurt because of me, not if I can help it."

"Wash up, I'll call Batty to help you with it," He said as he stood and straightened his shirt. "You'll stay here with me tonight, I want to make sure you heal okay." He bent and kissed the top of her head before calling for the house elf that had raised him.

Batty appeared and immediately began healing the worst of the damage, shooing Draco out and stripping Pansy of her soiled clothes. Batty must have either sensed or been warned by Draco that she might be a danger to herself, because she hovered over her the entire time she bathed, scrubbing away the blood and sick, before levitating her out of the tub. Dried off and dressed in emerald silk pajamas, she was placed in Draco's large bed. He was standing at the window, gazing out onto the dark grounds, and she was struck for the millionth time just how beautiful he was. When he turned to look down at her, his gaze was soft. He crawled into bed beside her, and when she began to cry silently, he pulled her against him and held her, even as his own hot tears spilled and landed on her temples.

If Pansy had ever felt corned and trapped before, she now felt as if she were a fox caught in a steel trap as hounds closed in on her.

 _"I'm not going to make it out of this house alive,"_ she thought to herself as she felt Draco drift into sleep. She only prayed it didn't hurt to much when it finally was over.

She fell into an exhausted and tormented sleep, haunting by dreams where everywhere she looked, Gibbon stood staring at her in accusation.


	5. Chapter 5

Part One. Chapter Five.

* * *

October

* * *

She looked like a skeleton.

Her eyes had dark hollows beneath them, and her already angular cheeks were even more sharpened, sticking out. Her lips were chapped, scabby, and slightly bloody as she continually ripped open old bite marks that were slow to heal. Her hair was dull and lifeless, just like her eyes and skin, and she was having a hard time trying to separate delirium from reality.

It was a lot better than how she had looked in the summer.

She was never clean. At first, she had tried to bathe after each beating, but they became so frequent that she had finally told Batty enough, it was no use scrapping away blood when within a few short hours; she would be covered even more. She had been absolutely filthy, pathetic, a sniveling mess. Pansy Parkinson had never cried so much in her lifetime and it absolutely maddened her.

She was living inside a nightmare.

She was also almost constantly drunk. She had taken to smuggling alcohol from the stores in the cellar, but at one point she began realizing that Narcissa was simply restocking what she took, never saying a word. She kept a silver flask on her at all times, taking large sips throughout the day, trying to numb the dread and pain that followed her around.

Her guilt and self-loathing was like a ball and chain, a shadow that never left her. It was bad enough that Draco was so beside himself with anxiety trying to keep her alive and refrain from dishonoring his parents, but it was harder with Greg, and even Vinny.

On the first day after being crucio'd in front of the other followers, She had let herself be dragged down to breakfast. Greg and Vinny were there, their faces grim, and couldn't bring themselves to look into her eyes. Sitting between Draco and Greg, she should have felt comforting, like a hundred other breakfasts before where Draco would act like an arrogant prick and Greg would steal pieces of bacon off her plate.

It would never be like that again.

She had managed to choke down a piece of bread and a few sips of tea before she gave up, deciding to wait it out and dip into the brandy pressed against her hipbone, the only thing that could settle her turning stomach. She couldn't stomach anything, not when every time she looked up, she saw Gibbon standing over her.

Greg or Draco had taken to placing a comforting hand on her elbow and thigh, but it felt as if they were trying to hold together a grumbling sandcastle in a summer storm. No one wanted to address the elephant in the room: Draco was walking on eggshells and Pansy had a ticking bomb strapped to her chest, and sooner or later, they both would be dead.

Greg had stood up, shoving his hands in the pockets of his robes abruptly and Vinny simply nodded at her and Draco, making his way to the door. Vinny said almost next to nothing most of the time, a mute compared to Goyle, it was really more in the way he held his shoulders that you figured out what he wanted to say. Right now, his shoulders were up around his ears.

The whole breakfast had been in silence.

"We gotta go," Greg murmured quietly, a flush creeping across his cheeks. "We have orders to start patrolling muggle London, trying to keep an eye on Potter." Her heart had sunk at that. Greg was leaving, and so was her only other ally besides Draco, she knew it had to be on purpose, that they were being sent away.

"Greg," she choked out and he reached down and hugged her to his chest. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to, she could hear his rapid heartbeats and the way he gulped down breaths. He didn't want to leave her.

"Please, watch the drinking," Greg whispered in her ear. He disentangled himself from her, but stopped on the way to the door as he left, "be safe, both of you."

Draco had nodded urgently, even paler than before.

Draco began treading carefully, arriving to meetings early, obeying every single command down to the very last detail, nearly killing himself over making sure he didn't falter.

It hadn't mattered.

Over the weeks that bled into months, she was consistently punished, on a daily basis.

She was required to follow Draco around all day, so that when he slipped up, she would be on hand to punish. If he didn't nod quickly enough when a plan was proposed, she was given a quick crucio. If he didn't make room for older, more important followers, she was crucio'd. Once he made the mistake of not saying "My Lord" after answering, and she was punished. Eventually, if she cried, she was given another curse. If she made a single sound, she was cursed. If she bled, she was cursed. If she didn't get up quick enough, she was cursed. It didn't matter if Lord Voldemort was in the room or not, he had given Bellatrix explicit permission to dole out punishments as needed.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Draco had cried out once as he knocked into Dolohov on accident. Bellatrix simply sneered and flung her wand out at Pansy, who crumbled in silence, screaming with no sound as gravity pounded down against her and her lungs caught fire inside her.

It had been only a handful of weeks that the torturing had finally slowed to a rarity, and Pansy didn't know how she had made it through.

Draco, absolutely sick was paranoia, had suddenly found a way to fake perfection. Pansy didn't have it in her to be disgusted with the way he bowed to the others, she was eternally thankful that her body was finally allowed to heal as much as it could what with the damage that had been done.

She could barely walk. Draco carried her when he could, propped her up when he couldn't. She wasn't sure if it was because of the drinking, or because her muscles were failing her. There were large chunks of time where she couldn't remember what she had been doing, or where she was. She often woke up on the floor not sure if she had simply blacked out, or been tortured to the point of unconsciousness. Her hands were constantly trembling, muscle spasms, and her voice hadn't not sounded hoarse in a very long time.

Narcissa had left a tomb about unforgiveable curses on her bed once. It talked about side effects of long-term exposure to the cruciatus curse. Pansy supposed she should be grateful that she hadn't been tortured to the point of madness.

Her parents had written her, mid-summer, a brief and blunt note:

 _Do not fail us._

Narcissa had told her that they had left the country, claiming business negotiations. Pansy knew they were trying to separate themselves as much as possible; they were cowards who wanted nothing to do with her.

Everywhere she looked, Gibbon was standing over her. Sometimes, she tried to address him, but he never responded to her apologies, to her pleading for forgiveness. She just wanted to be left alone, but she could constantly hear Freya's screaming ringing in her ears, no matter how loud of a room she was standing in. She got very little sleep at night, often waking up with her pulse racing and breath caught in her lungs, convinced Gibbon had hold of her ankle and was pulling her down into the grave alongside him.

She had missed Tracey and Theo's wedding in June. She also missed Daphne and Blaise's a week later. She didn't say anything when she realized, she didn't miss them as much as she thought she would.

She cried when she heard that Greg and Millie were married in July. She had received an invitation in the post, as well as a plea to be maid of honor, but no matter what Draco said, they weren't allowed to attend.

She spent her time holed up in the library when she wasn't required to attend meetings with Draco, reading old books she had read in school and nursing her flask.

Draco didn't pick fights with her very often, for once, Lord Voldemort had been right about something: their bond had strengthened ten-fold, though they still could not bring themselves to be in love with each other. He didn't say anything about her drinking, even when he realized there were more blacked out blocks of lost time in her days than not. He would simply sit with her in the library as he watched her stare into nothingness, or fall into dreamless unconsciousness. She woke up once and he had picked her up from where she had slumped to the floor, holding her in his arms, stroking her hair.

"Feels nice," she slurred and snuggled further against him. "Never knew what I was missin' out on." He let out a dark chuckle at that.

"I never cuddled the other girls," he murmured, "never thought I would cuddle you either. If you would have asked me if I were more likely to cuddle you or a Blast-Ended Skrewt, I would have picked the Skrewt."

"You're good at it," she gave a Cheshire grin, " your future wife is really going to appreciate the practice one day."

"Pans, you are my future wife," Draco stiffened.

"Maybe your _first_ wife," Pansy drawled, "but not your _last_ wife."

He had said nothing at that, simply at a loss for words.

* * *

AN: We are at the halfway point for part one! A bit of a bridge chapter, entirely necessary in order to get the plot rolling again. Hang in there with me. The 6th chapter may be up later tonight, or tomorrow morning at the very latest. Thank you for being wonderful!


	6. Chapter 6

Late October

* * *

Pansy had finally managed to start walking again, probably because Draco had started to cut off her alcohol supply, ordering his mother to slow down on the refills. She could walk longer periods of time and though her hands still shook, it wasn't as rapid.

She was sitting in the library alone reading a potions textbook when Bellatrix approached her. Pansy tensed up immediately, waiting to see if her future aunt-in-law was going to attack her.

"We think we've found some blood traitors and muggle born hiding out," Bellatrix said with a sinister leer. "The Dark Lord has requested your presence with the team he is sending out to deal with the filth."

"W-what exactly will be doing?" Pansy's asked, her body numb and still. She had been waiting for an opportunity to get back into the Dark Lord's good graces so that her role as whipping boy would be ended for good. She would do anything.

"He wants you to help kill them, you silly little girl, you've proven you are more than capable of it."

Well, just about anything.

* * *

"You can't seriously be thinking about going along with this!" Draco snarled, whipping into the library some time later. She was sitting in an armchair, books closed at her feet, sipping from a silver goblet. She raised one elegant plucked eyebrow at him.

"So you've heard," She said after a moment of a silent stare down. He gave a pointed look at her cup and she took another sip out of pure pettiness.

"Father told me, said The Dark Lord wants to test you," He sat across from her, twisting his long pale fingers in agitation. "I asked him why you were the one being tested, not me? I have more to prove."

"I've already proved I'm quite capable of murder, Draco," she chided, twisting a strand of hair around her finger. It had gotten a little longer, hanging at her shoulders; her bangs were constantly in her eyes now. "You would be a flight risk."

"But can you do it again?" Draco asked quietly. She observed him then, looking at how he seemed paler, thinner, an air of unhappiness surrounding him. He was dressed in perfectly tailored trousers and pressed dress shirt, his dark robes opened. Even his shoes were perfectly polished. It struck her funny and she felt a laugh bubble up in her throat, that Draco could keep himself so well maintained even in the midst of absolute misery.

Looking at her own self, she was a sad excuse for the perfect pureblooded daughter she had once been. Her eyes were hollowed beneath them, and upon reflection a week ago, she began lining them heavily with black kohl, a feeble attempt to take away the attention from the dark sleep-deprived bruises. It made her look haunting. She was at the skinniest she had ever been, swimming in her midnight robes, almost a nod to Severus Snape and his bat-like billowing.

"I don't exactly have a choice," Pansy answers him finally. "Your aunt made that very clear to me, it's either I kill them, or they kill you…slowly, while I watch."

"You tried to say no?"

He got a long hard look at that.

"Of course, Draco, I'm not a serial killer, I'm not jumping for the chance to kill someone else!" Her words were bitter and she laughed at that.

"Y'know, they say the first time is always the hardest," he said after many moments of contemplation.

"Like childbirth?"

"Or marriage."

They shared a laugh at that, it almost sounded like a normal moment of joking between friends. Stars, somewhere in this mess of a few months they had found a way to become better friends than they ever had been. Long gone were the days when Draco would try to step on her toes to get praise from their professors and parents. Long gone were the days when Pansy spread a nasty rumor around just to keep him out of storage closets with the random slaggy Slytherin or Ravenclaw.

"I'm going to do whatever I have to do to keep us from resorting back to a few weeks ago," Pansy told him seriously.

"I'm sorry you have to, I wish you didn't, but I also am glad I don't have to be the one to do it," he admitted and put his hand over hers.

"One day when we have horribly spoiled yet attractive children, and we tell them how mum and dad fucked up royally and sided with the bad guys in the war, promise me you won't tell them that mum killed a dark wizard and bunch of muggleborn."

"P," he sighed, "I wouldn't do that to you, I'll never breathe a word of it to anyone, it's your story to tell, as you choose and to whom, and when and if."

"Pansy," A voice called from the doorway. It was Narcissa, she looked slightly less frozen than usual, she almost looked…sad? "Bella sent me to fetch you, she said it's time."

She downed the rest of her drink, handing the empty goblet to Draco before digging into her pocket and handing him a galleon. He took it, confused.

"We're about to see if the first time truly is the hardest, or if it only gets worse," she gave him a wicked grin that turned into more of a grimace. "I bet a galleon that it only gets worse."

"I'll bet you five that it doesn't." He slid it into his pocket.

"Optimist."

"Purely wishful thinking."

* * *

They were in a forest.

It was dark.

In the distance, they could hear men talking and the distant familiar of a fire.

Her head was heavy and her skin felt like it was buzzing, and she was grateful, because it meant that she was numbing, she was separating herself. She pulled out her flask and took a quick gulp, taste buds protesting against the bitter acrid taste.

"Go from the side," Yaxley breathed beside her, tickling her ear. "We'll surround them. We don't ask questions, we follow our orders, they've been confirmed to be traitors and muggle born." She nodded quickly and raised her wand at the ready, but her hands were trembling and she was blinking rapidly.

She must have been shaking all over, because he placed a hand on her arm.

"You are doing this for the betterment of our world," He said to her. "If it helps, disconnect yourself, it's almost a primal instinct to exterminate the lesser. Remember, if you do this, you will have proven yourself loyal to our cause."

She nodded slowly, "and for Draco." Yaxley snorted with amusement. It seemed like almost all of the Death Eaters thought Pansy and Draco went at it like lovesick rabbits, which couldn't be further from the truth.

Could she do this? Could she take innocent lives? More and more she was starting to doubt the effectiveness of brutality against the lesser blooded, but she didn't think that mattered anymore. Overwhelming images of Draco being tortured and killed before her eyes swam in her mind, only to be replaced with her parents barking at her to get it together, to stop being so weak. Confusion was taking over, because on one hand she knew she was huddling on the edge of a precipice and was dangerously close to falling over, and the other knew that if she stood up she could walk away.

A flashback.

 _She was crouched outside her father's study at their home, maybe six-years-old. She was listening to him talk to Draco's father, and her mother and Mrs. Malfoy were downstairs in the parlor._

 _Draco's daddy kept asking her father if he was sure he wanted to adjust the marriage contract between Draco and Pansy to set their marriage to be at sixteen._

" _Augustus, are you certain?" Lucius asked him, "Narcissa and I do not object, but these things are not taken lightly."_

 _She hadn't understood what that meant._

" _You are a pure blooded family, one of the best," she could see his father holding a glass of whiskey, resting it on his leg through the crack in the door. "The sooner we can get her out of the house, the better."_

" _She's that troublesome?" Lucius had chuckled._

" _We never wanted a girl anyway, you can't continue a family line without a boy," Augustus sighed. "I'm not even certain she's mine, you know of Poppy's exploits."_

 _Little Pansy had frozen. She didn't understand much, but she did catch her father saying they had wanted a boy, not her, and that he wasn't sure he was even her daddy._

 _She had gone down stairs in tears, comforted by the house elves who took her to the kitchens. Poppy hated the sound of crying children. She never hugged or kissed her parents ever again. Never questioned why her parents didn't write her when she was away at school or were home for holidays._

 _Flashback to her fifth year Christmas break, when she had presented her parents with her inquisitorial squad badge and prefect pin, pride oozing from every pore on her body._

 _Her father had simply glanced at and returned back to reading The Daily Prophet. Her mother didn't even look up from her wine goblet. She couldn't remember a time she had ever felt so dejected, ever felt so unimportant in her life._

She pulled out of her flashback, gasping for breath. Blinking her eyes, she realized she was standing in a different clearing, which held a ransacked campsite. Around her were about ten bodies, some were bloody, some had obviously been taken by the killing curse. She was overwhelmed with the deafening silence that hovered over them all. She felt detached from her body, like she was looking down at herself. It occurred to her that she couldn't see Gibbon, or hear Freya anymore. Everything was just quiet.

"Never seen someone so calm in killin'," Yaxley walked up to her from the shadows, clapping her on the back.

"It's like you were possessed or something," Dolohov agreed, wiping his hands on his cloak. She was silent, her eyes wide as saucers, as she took in the carnage.

"How many do you think I got?" She felt herself ask quietly.

"Over half I should say," Yaxley chuckled. "The Dark Lord will be more than pleased with you."

"Think you found yourself a permanent job here, Parkinson," Dolohov said as he flicked his wand up, leaving a ghostly effigy of the dark mark hovering over the bodies. "Let get out of here, my nose is burning with all this mudblood stink."

She felt herself being pulled into an apparition, and when she hit the ground outside the manor, that's when the screaming started back up in her ears.

* * *

AN: I'm sorry.


	7. Chapter 7

Part One. Chapter Seven.

* * *

AN: We are hitting the climax of Part One! Things have to hit rock bottom in order to spring back up. This is rock bottom. Sensitive themes.

* * *

The night of the raid, continued:

* * *

It was very late. She kept muttering about how late it was, how it felt like it should be morning already. Yaxley kept looking at her funny, and so did Dolohov, until the latter finally grumbled "drunk out of her mind."

They made their way up to the manor, and she was struck by how dark everything seemed, the marble looked gray and the grandeur seemed faded and dingy.

They entered and immediately went to the ballroom, bowing low before The Dark Lord who was seating in his chair throne.

"My three knights," Lord Voldemort remarked, seeming in good spirits, "returned from doing their noble duty: ridding the world of filth. Tell me, Yaxley, did our young…protégée…have any trouble?"

"No my Lord," Yaxley raised his head slightly, looking at Pansy with acknowledgement, "she exceeded all expectations."

"Is that so?" Lord Voldemort got up and slowly made his way toward them, his large snake, Nagini, slithering behind him. She was vaguely aware that the Malfoy's and Lestrange's were standing in the shadows. "Miss Parkinson?"

"My Lord," she murmured, "I found no trouble in performing my duty. I was told I killed over half the campsite."

"You were told? You don't recall each individual?"

"No, My Lord, I believe the adrenaline overtook me, I simply killed until there was nothing left." She closed her eyes, waiting for the lash back.

It never came.

A cold hand clasped on her head and she stiffened. It was The Dark Lord, and when she cast her eyes upwards, he was jeering in amusement.

"I think we found our newest assassin."

She met Draco's brilliant blue eyes, beacons in the darkness of the shadows. He looked quickly away.

* * *

Draco's Point of View. Time period between the night of the raid and Late March.

* * *

He wasn't a healer, though he didn't doubt he could easily become one if he so desired, but he thought it was safe to say that Pansy had post-traumatic stress disorder.

She was also a raging alcoholic, but that was beside the point.

He had watched her literally turn a one-eighty from where she had been progressing in between when the torturing had ended and the night of the raid, and immediately afterwards. It was drastic, and frustrating as hell.

A ghost, or a zombie, that's how he would describe her. She spent most of her days that bled into weeks, and then months after the raid getting drunk enough to where she would fall unconscious. Every single time he saw her, she was reeking of whiskey and teetering on the edge of insanity.

He often caught her staring at something over his shoulder, and when he would turn, there was nothing there. Sometimes she would shout "leave me alone!" and "shut up!" randomly, even when it was just the two of them in the library. Her hands were shaky, her shoulders twitchy, and she was dangerously thin.

In December they were asked to check out a tip that had come in. Xeno Lovegood had reported that Harry Potter was in his home. When they arrived with Yaxley and Dolohov, they were too late. There was a quick dual, but ultimately the golden trio managed to slip from their fingers. It had ruined his ego for weeks afterwards. Pansy had seemed normal only that once, alert, and apparently ready for a fight. Never had Draco imagined she would become so robotic, a push-button show pony that did as she was ordered. He missed her fiery spirit, which had been the only thing he had ever been attracted to with her.

One night in January he tried to initiate some sort of intimacy, anything to get that dead look out of her eyes. She had responded back with fervor at first, molding her tiny little body against his, but when he ran his hand across her ribcage she retreated, moving to the other side of the bed. In the morning she kissed his cheek, but didn't say a word. She hadn't said a word to him, or anyone, in weeks.

Yaxley was flirting with her.

He had begun to notice it after the raid. Neverthemind that he was twice her age, but she was claimed! Draco felt intense offense whenever he thought about it, that Yaxley would dare go something that had been explicitly stated as his. Pansy was his, whether they wanted it or not, everything he did affected her, was done for her. He didn't understand his feelings toward her, he truly didn't think about her in _that_ way, yet he couldn't stomach the thought of someone like Yaxley even thinking she was a possibility. He had once mentioned it to her, trying to sound joking, that perhaps Yaxley was interested in her, but she had simply snorted in response.

In March, he dragged her to a game of wizards cards in one of the sitting rooms, Dolohov, Yaxley, and Rosier were. He had somehow gotten her to rouse herself enough to play, though he noticed she was mostly drinking.

"That's the problem with pureblooded witches," Rosier was saying as he dealt a hand. "They only want one thing: everything in your vault."

"In your case, that's one Knut," Yaxley chortled and he received a swat.

"I don't think so," Pansy said suddenly, and Draco watched the familiar sly look he hadn't seen in months cross her face.

"No?" Rosier lifted an eyebrow.

"No," Pansy said as she set a card down. "It would take more than just what's in your vault for me to want to marry you."

Draco, Yaxley, and Dolohov threw their heads back and laughed. Draco hadn't felt so lighthearted in months, and if he didn't lift the sleeve of his robe and jumper, he wouldn't even know the past summer had happened.

"Have another drink, Parkinson, and maybe I'll show you what else I have to offer," Rosier gave her a hungry look, teeth flashing, making him look like a starving stray dog.

"That's enough, Rosier," Draco put a firm hand on Pansy's shoulder, "that's my fiancé you're talking to." He could feel the familiar anger bubble up in him whenever a crooked older man propositioned her.

"Whatsa point of a fiancé if The Dark Lord won't ever let ya to marry 'er?" Dolohov jeered, murky eyes flashing.

"It'll happen," Draco found himself snarling back defensively. Pansy was silent, her face blank, though she had downed the drink in front of her. "It's not your job, Dolohov, to suggest otherwise."

"That's not what I heard," Dolohov murmured, and Draco's brilliant blue eyes immediately flashed toward the man. He knew Dolohov was baiting him, but his pride couldn't resist.

"What did you hear?"

"Dol…" Yaxley warned, amusement washed from his face.

"I heard that old man Parkinson found out his unwed daughter is a mental sociopathic drunk who's sleepin' in bed with her fiancé, so he ordered Lucius to revoke the marriage contract," Dolohov grinned triumphantly.

"YOU'RE LYING!" Draco roared, standing up and grabbing the collar of the man's robe with one hand, yanking him across the table, and pressing his wand to his throat with the other. He was seeing red, a vein jumping in his forehead.

"He's not," Pansy murmured, putting a hand on Yaxley, who had jumped up to break up the fight. "It's true."

"W-Wha-wha-what?!"Draco sputtered, staring at her incredulously.

"Found out a few days ago," Pansy whispered, "told me they don't want me responsible for continuing the family line, so they burned me from the Parkinson family tree."

Draco released Dolohov, who clutched his throat, taking deep angry breaths.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He felt his hands shaking.

"I hadn't realized how much time had passed until now," she shrugged. Something caught her attention because suddenly she was staring off into in the air beside him. "They won't leave me alone, it's hard to think about anything else."

"P…I'm…I'm sorry," Draco reached out a hand to touch her, but she flinched.

"Your parents were gentle about it, your mom even told me they would let you marry me still if you wanted, but I told them I wanted you to have the choice. They told me I could tell you first."

He was silent.

"It all works out, Dray, you get that shot at love you always wanted," she gave a rueful smile.

"Pansy-" She stood up, still staring at ghosts he could not see, and she held a trembling hand up as if to see if it's real.

"I'm tired," Pansy said, "I think it's time for me to go." She slowly wandered out and he sat back down, mind whirling. Their contract had been terminated. He had no prospects. On one hand, he could marry his best friend still, if he wanted, but then again, he felt the small stirring of—relief? He was relieved that he could have a say in his future, that he wasn't damned to a love-less marriage, to feel as if there was a gun to his head to love a woman in a way he couldn't possibly give. His thoughts flickered to every girl he had ever been with, and yet, they didn't seem like his perfect match either.

The thought made him lonely.

And then her words echoed in his head: "I'm tired, I think it's time for me to go." Leaping from the table, heart thudding in his ears, he ran for dear life, flying towards their room.

His only hope was that he wasn't too late.

* * *

Pansy

* * *

She could feel herself sinking down into the warm waters of the tub, submerging her shoulders, then her chin, and finally her head. Sliding down the porcelain slope of the tub until her back lay against the bottom. Her eyes were closed and her shoulders were relaxed, despite the fact that she had begun to hold her breath.

There was a heavy silence in her ears, she couldn't hear screams, curses, or shattering glass that constantly plagued the manor. With her eyes closed under the water, she couldn't see the seven people that followed her around constantly, a reminder of her sins she had committed.

There hadn't been a moment she'd ever felt more at peace.

And then she was laying facedown on the soft sheepskin rug that covered the black and white tiled floor. Her lungs were burning in agony as oxygen returned to them and her whole body was shuddering, gasping, blood trickling down from her nose.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Draco roared down at her, the arms of his sleeves and most of the front of his shirt soaked. She threw up what felt like gallons of water, purging all the alcohol she had consumed in the process.

"I c-could ask you the same thing..Draco.." she rasped and stood up shakily, pulling a white towel around her body, "I've been losing a lot of my razors lately." Her eyes flicked to his covered arms.

"AT LEAST I'M NOT TRYING TO KILL MYSELF!" Draco gripped her arms tightly, and she flinched, knowing his fingers would leave behind bruises from where he was digging into her skin. "What kind of friend are you? You think you can just off yourself and leave me behind to deal with this bullshit?!"

"I wasn't…." She stopped. Had she been? Her mind was whirling slowly. Had she been trying to kill herself? "I just….I needed to make it stop…. _all I see is them_ ," she shook her head. "I feel so numb and dirty. All the time, Draco, I can't feel anything, I look at my hands and I see blood, I can't-I can't- I can-" And then she was sobbing into the chest of her childhood best friend and he was holding her tightly to him, trying to keep himself from crying as well.

How low had they sunk? That they were now crying to each other over their dark thoughts?

Pansy had put herself in many dark places in the past few years, she had treaded into very deep waters and gone where even her parents would not, and yet nothing had prepared her for this moment. She was a ghost of herself, or rather, a ghost of a self she was beginning to realize was a ghost of someone else as well.

"I can't do this anymore," Draco was whimpering, his sad voice in her ear. "I go another day in this place, it's killing me." She squeezed him tighter, her arms wound around his neck, her feet on tip-toes to reach him, soaking him with bathwater as she clutched him, hair plastered to her head.

"We have to get out," she whispered, "we have to get out or else we'll die here."

There were warning alarms ringing throughout the manor.

Someone was here.

* * *

AN: Whew, that was heavy. Only three-THREE?!-more chapters left of part one. Have questions about the story, characters, or anything else? Ask away, I'll try to answer them the best I can.

Up next: the golden trio arrives


	8. Chapter 8

Part one. Chapter Eight.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the wait. Hope this makes up for it.

* * *

Pansy

* * *

Draco was being summoned. The wards in his room blaring, he quickly cast a drying spell over himself as Pansy stumbled and fell over trying to pull on her robes and shoes and dry her hair all at once.

"JUST GO JUST GO – OI!" Pansy yelped as she slammed into Draco. They flew back and landed on their arses, she rubbing her forehead and he rubbing his chest.

"Draco just go I'll meet you there," She growled at him and stood up, straightening her midnight robes and pushing her left foot into a shoe.

"Right, yeah," Draco scrambled to his feet and fixed his hair before watching her uncertainly.

"Damnit Dray," she snapped and with one last flick of her wand she set her hair to rights. She grabbed hold of his sleeve and began dragging him downstairs. He tried to make conversation, babbling, a habit he had when he was nervous, but Pansy was silent. Her habit, most occasions.

The manor was eerily silent as they made the trek toward the main part, but as she got closer, she could hear signs of a disturbance. She smacked a hand over his mouth to shut him up finally before slipping inside the ballroom.

The Malfoy's and the Lestrange's were already there. Bellatrix was pacing anxiously and Lucius's mouth was set in a grim line. Pansy immediately retired into the shadows where the dimly lit light did not hit. Draco, looking pale, stood beside his mother. Apparently The Dark Lord was away, and Bellatrix was in charge.

A moment later, a group of people entered the ballroom and Pansy winced.

Prisoners.

She remembered the last time prisoners had arrived, two of them classmates that she had identified, the other the wand maker she had gotten her own wand from, and a goblin.

With a jolt, she realized she would be forced to identify classmates again today.

It was the Weasley boy and the Granger mudblood.

Beside them was a horribly disfigured bloke that was the ugliest thing she had ever laid eyes on.

"Reckon this is Harry Potter, cursed to look like this as a disguise, these two being his little companions," Fenrir Greyback was saying, nails digging into the shoulder of the supposed Potter.

"Yes, but we must be certain," Bellatrix hissed and smacked at the werewolf. The mad woman slowly made her way around the three prisoners, propped up between the snatchers. A light seemed to come on behind her black eyes.

"Draco!" She turned and gave him a wide frightening grin, "Draco sweetie, you would be able to identify if this is in fact Potter, wouldn't you?" She coed, hands on his shoulders. "After all, you've been in school with him for years."

"I-I can try," Draco mumbled.

She led him first to Granger and then to Weasley.

"Is this not Potter's two friends?" She whispered, sounded on the verge of a panic attack.

"It is," he said quietly after staring for a moment at Granger. His face was void of emotion, but she saw his fingers trembled.

"Then is this not Potter?" Bellatrix turned him to the boy in question. Pansy watched him gulp, watched him clench his fists one, twice, three times, staring at the boy.

"I can't tell," he said finally. Pansy frowned at that, because she knew he was lying. That was his lying face.

Bellatrix seemed to think he was lying as well, because she gave a screech of annoyance. "Look harder Draco, we have to be certain before we summon The Dark Lord!"

Draco looked again, the picture of discomfort, and even as recognition flashed in his eyes, she knew he was going to lie again. Pansy didn't understand what he was doing, if they discovered that he was lying about recognizing Potter, then he would be killed, and surely she would be as well. As the silence droned on and it became increasingly obvious Draco would not say who it was, she felt her fingers twitch toward her wand in her pocket. Draco was walking on thin ice, if he was found out he would be brutally tortured and murdered. _She could kill him this minute, so quick and painless, and he would be free, she would be right behind him._ She shook herself clear of those thoughts as he finally spoke.

She watched with dread as he turned and lied to his aunt once again, he couldn't be certain. Pansy closed her eyes as she listened to Bellatrix let out a string of curses in irritation.

"Take them to the dungeons!" Bellatrix ordered. The snatchers and Greyback protested, demanding their pay, but she sent a volley of curses at them, throwing them out of the manor.

There were several beats of silence and Pansy made the mistake of relaxing her shoulders.

With a snap she was on the ground and being dragged by an invisible hook toward the center of the room.

"Bella…" Narcissa called out, and for one moment, it looked like she was going to tell her to stop. That moment passed. With a wince, Narcissa turned away from where Pansy was laying bound and silenced on the floor.

* * *

Draco

* * *

"Please Aunt Bella, please don't—" Draco's desperate pleading was cut off as the first crucio hit Pansy and she writhed on the ground, a silent scream pouring from her lips.

"We have to be certain, Draco!" Bellatrix cried out and threw another curse at Pansy, taking away the silence as well.

"PLEASE NO PLEASE!" Draco shouted falling to his knees as Pansy's screamed reverberated through the ballroom. Her nose was already bleeding and she was thrashing against the floor, limbs still bound.

"DRACO! DO YOU KNOW!?" Bellatrix's chest was heaving, a sickening joyful smile across her face. She looked rapid.

He turned to meet Pansy's bloodshot eyes. There was a moment of understanding that passed between them. A silent question she answered with a sigh, closing her eyes, body twitching.

He couldn't go along with family anymore.

"No."

* * *

Pansy

* * *

She came to some time later, a world of gray. Her body was screaming in agony, lungs burning in her chest. Draco was sitting beside her, long pale fingers smoothing her hair.

"How long was I out?" She rasped. She felt him spell a mild muscle relaxer on her, which soothed her somewhat.

"Few minutes," he answered, lips barely moving. She looked over to what had his attention.

Hermione Granger was being dragged into the room.

"Draco," she warned.

He was already on his feet.

* * *

AN: It's happening.

Only TWO chapters left until the end of part one. Thank you for the love. There's a bunch of you cursing me for putting Astoria and Crabbe together. I laugh every time I get a message about them. I paired them simply to illustrate that there really isn't much say in their lives, they just have to do what their parents tell them. Will the two end up together?

…. No….

I love you for reading -O


	9. Chapter 9

Part One. Chapter Nine.

AN: WARNING: Major character death ahead.

* * *

Pansy

* * *

Bellatrix was torturing the mudblood Granger.

Apparently she had been holding the sword of Gryffindor when they had been taken in. Now Bellatrix was hell bent on finding out how they had gotten the sword.

Draco had been standing frozen as he watched his aunt close in on the muggleborn girl and Pansy slowly tried to sit up, holding herself up on her hands.

Everything seemed to be moving underwater as she watched Bellatrix crucio the girl until she was huddled on the ballroom floor. Pansy opened her mouth just as Draco began running in slow motion toward the girl; the room filled with flashes of light and smoke.

All she could see was waves of flashbacks, each torture she had ever had rolling across her eyes in slow motion, painstakingly clear.

Pansy wanted to throw up, thinking about the amount of pain that came with a crucio. One single time. She had lived through it many times, and the agony on the girls face – Granger – it was something she related to and recognized.

A stunning curse hit her in the shoulder and she fell back to the ground, hit in the crossfire.

Draco was dueling his own father, trying to keep them back. He had apparently knocked Bellatrix off of the girl.

Pansy saw her own wand lying a few feet from her. Wincing, she slowly crawled forward and grabbed it, sitting up on her knees. Shaking, she got to her feet and then immediately began firing curses at Bellatrix to keep her away from Draco.

"YOU TRAITOROUS BITCH!" Bellatrix shrieked, firing curse after curse. Granger was somewhere between consciousness and not, lips trembling. Her arm was bleeding.

"I won't let you torture anyone else, Lestrange!" Pansy snarled back and whipped a disarming curse at her. It caught, and Bellatrix's wand went flying.

Pansy didn't even had time to smirk before the doors were bursting open and Potter, restored to normal, and Weasley were entering the fray. At first the boys went to curse her, but then they realized that she and Draco were fighting _with_ them.

Weasley began helping Draco push back Greyback and Lucius and Potter was working against Narcissa. Pansy turned to see Bellatrix moving toward her wand. She immediately send a spell to cast it aside, and then aimed her wand at the witch.

Bellatrix was staring at her, transfixed, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Go on then, you worthless girl, kill me," Bellatrix taunted. "So you want to change sides? You think those traitorous filth opposing our lord will forget the fact that you are a killer? Think they want an alcoholic nobody hanging around? Go on, kill me, kill me you stupid girl! Kill me!" Bellatrix taunted her, laughing hysterically.

She had hesitated for too long.

She watched as Bellatrix pressed her hand to her dark mark.

"Shit," Pansy breathed and immediately turned her back to the woman.

"Draco!" She called out. "We have to get them out of here, she's called Him!"

A wave of pain hit her like a ton of bricks and she looked up. Bellatrix had her wand and was crucioing her again.

Draco, Potter, and Weasley were closing rank, trying to edge back toward her to help.

She was about to fall to the floor in a writhing mess when she suddenly realized that if she fell, she would never get back up, and they would all die. For nothing.

"N-no," she breathed and fought to straighten, forcing her legs to keep standing. "No."

"WHAT!" Bellatrix roared in disbelief. "CRUCIO!"

Another wave of pain hit her, but this time she was ready. Gritting her teeth so hard she could taste blood, she slowly moved a foot forward, taking a step.

"No. More." Pansy growled and slowly began inching her hand up, fingers clutching her wand, sweat dripping down her forehead as she fought wave after wave of excruciating pain.

"ENOUGH!" Lucius shouted and Bellatrix turned, breaking her concentration. Pansy began to lose her balance but Draco was at her side, holding her up.

"Dray…Draco…"she breathed, leaning her head against his neck.

"'Arry, how did she resist the cruciatus?" She heard Weasley mutter to Potter, who simply shrugged. They were backed into a corner of the ballroom as Lucius began pacing and Narcissa swayed on uncertain feet behind him.

"Lucius is right, this is quite enough," Bellatrix was holding Granger up by her hair. Potter and Weasley immediately took up their wands, as did Draco and Pansy, and they began firing curses once more.

"STOP OR SHE DIES! Drop your wands! Right now, or we'll see exactly how dirty her blood is! I said, drop them!" Bellatrix shrieked, a silver dagger pressed to Granger's throat.

"Fine! All right!" Potter dropped his wand, as did Weasley, Draco, and Pansy.

"Draco, pick them up! I'm giving you one last chance to side with the right side, with your family! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches! Draco, forget that stupid little girl, she isn't worth following into the grave! Come back and Aunt Bella will forget your small betrayal."

Pansy watched Draco hesitate, looking down at the wands at the floor, to Pansy, to his aunt, his parents, and finally at Granger, trembling against the knife.

A rattle above them broke their attention and they all looked up to see a house elf swinging from the crystal chandelier. With a joyful laugh and a snap of his fingers, the chandelier fell and Bellatrix shrieked, releasing her hold on Granger, throwing her aside. Weasley grabbed hold of her and hefted her between him and Potter.

"Hold on, Dobby is bringing Harry Potter and friends to safety!" The house elf cried, appearing beside them, and Potter took hold of his hand.

"You too!" Potter urged at Draco, and without a moment of hesitation, Draco took Dobby's hand, all the while still clutching Pansy.

Bellatrix was shrieking as they were being pulled away from the manor. Pansy saw many whirling colors, but a sharp flash of silver burst through it all. Someone crashed against her, but she couldn't see who it was.

All at once, she was crashing to the ground, sandy ground, beneath a crumpled heap of limbs and bodies.

Wriggling her way out, she realized they were on the coast beside a brilliant blue ocean. Draco was beside her, gaping, and when she turned to see what he was staring at she let out a curse.

Ron Weasley was staring wide-eyed as he fought for breath, the hilt of the silver dagger sticking out from his chest.

Everyone immediately began screaming.

* * *

AN: Ugh I'm sorry! I genuinely love Ron, really I do, I always had/still have a huge crush on him. He's my type. I'm sorry. It just had to happen.

We made it out of the manor finally! Now, one last chapter, and then real fun begins.


	10. Chapter 10

Part One. Chapter Ten.

* * *

Pansy

* * *

Ron Weasley was dead.

Potter had tried to heal him, begged Granger to help him, tried to stop the bleeding, but it hadn't been any use. The would was fatal, and unfortunately as time as proven, magic cannot fix everything.

"Harry," The boy had croaked before turning to look at Granger, "Hermione…"

Pansy had turned her head to stare out at the water biting her lip, tucked against Draco's side. Draco had stared at the ground, simply squeezing her wrist every few moments.

At some point, more people joined them and Draco moved her further back.

"You!" An older man shouted raising his wand at Draco. He could only be a Weasley. "What are you doing here?!"

"Bill," Granger whispered, tear tracks down her face, "Mal-Draco, and Pansy, they helped us escape from Malfoy Manor. He…he stopped Bellatrix from torturing me."

"Ees zhat true?" The woman by Bill's side asked. She was startling beautiful, and then with a jolt Pansy realized it was Fleur Delacour, the girl from Beaxbatons who had competed in the Triwizard tournament at Hogwarts. She must had married the older Weasley brother.

"Y-yes," Draco said slowly. He took in the scene, Bill was holding Ron to him, Harry holding Hermione further back, and the beautiful French woman was standing above her husband. This was a family. "We wanted to help."

"Why?" Bill's voice was sharp, he looked up at him again, mistrust on his face.

Draco looked away scratching his head, brooding. "They were killing us there. For months, ever since school let out for the summer. They tortured Pansy every day for weeks, the cruciatus. They knew our allegiance was shifting, they-He, tried to force us to stay loyal."

"They crucio'd you every day?" Bill turned to look at Pansy. She met his hard gaze, saying nothing.

"How are you still alive? Or not completely mad?"

She gave a rough, dry laugh at that. "I hear that a lot."

Bill turned back to his brother, his youngest brother, a look of pain on his face. "Who did it?"

"Bellatrix," Potter said. "She threw it as Dobby was disapparating us."

"Where is Dobby?" Hermione looked up from where she had been smoothing a hand down Ron's leg, trying to ease the wrinkles from his trousers.

There was a pop and the small house elf appeared beside them, a look of sadness in his great orb-like eyes.

"Dobby is returning from telling right peoples that Master Weasley is…is…no more. Others, they are on the way, to says their goodbye."

'Thank you, Dobby," Bill cleared his throat. He looked over to Harry. "Er, I assume you need to stay here for a while, yeah?"

Harry nodded.

"Think it's best, all things considering, if the four of you," he gave a jerk of his head to include Draco and Pansy, "clear off for a bit. Mum will be pretty upset, she might not take too kindly to your…company."

"Right, right, yeah," Harry stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. "We'll just, go over the other side of the cliff, set up the tent for a bit. Just, er, tell your parents that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry-" he broke down at that. Hermione pulled him to his feet and put his arm over her shoulders, propping him up. Draco moved to help her, and Pansy was surprised to see that Harry let him. She followed behind them slowly as they made their way across the sand dunes and down a winding path that traveled down the side of the cliff.

* * *

She was sitting with her knees pulled to her chest, hugging. Her chin rested on her arms and as she stared into the small fire Granger had made, using a small glass jar. Granger was sitting with her back against a boulder, Potter against her side. They had both alternated between crying openly and staring into the fiery depths in silence.

Draco was across from her, laying back on the sand, staring up at the sky, which had begun to be painted red. Every so often, he would twitch and move to grab hold of his arm. She knew it was constantly burning.

"What do we do now?" Granger finally asked, her voice thick, eyes dry. It appeared as if she had nothing left to cry out.

"I don't know," Potter sighed, running his hands through his messy hair. "I don't know where we are supposed to look next."

"What are you looking for?" Draco rolled over to look at them. Granger visibly stiffened. Pansy slowly uncurled her legs, fists clenching as she prepared for the muggleborn to attack him.

Granger and Potter exchanged a look.

"Come off it, Potter," Draco stood up and began pacing around the fire. "No need to be careful now, we haven't got any place to go! The moment V-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named lays his beady red eyes on us, we're as good as dead."

"Sorry for the hesitation, Malfoy," Potter stood up and met him in front of the fire. "Sorry I can't seem to shake the years of fighting with you, you little prick. Sorry that I'm not entirely sure why you're still here, or even why you helped us back there!"

"I TOLD YOU!" Draco roared. "They were killing us! Slowly!"

He took a deep breath, as if to calm himself.

"I couldn't kill Dumbledore that night, because I knew it was wrong. Ever since then, I paid for it, over and over and over again." He looked over at Pansy. "Her, too. But believe me Potter, they never changed my mind about the fact that what they've been doing is wrong."

"What do you have to say about all of this?" Potter rounded on her. Pansy gave him a bored look, lounging back and resting her weight on her hands.

"I go where Draco goes," she replied after a moment of dramatic silence.

"Do you agree with Draco, do you think what they've been doing is wrong?" Granger piped up.

Pansy tilted her head, contemplating as she mulled it over in her head. "I think their tactics are…idiotic. Personally, I don't like to be told what to do, so I'll side with whoever is going to respect that."

Potter simply grimaced at her and Granger rolled her eyes.

"Listen, Potter," Draco shoved his hands into his pockets. "What I'm trying to say, what we are trying to say," he glared over in her general direction, "is that we don't have anywhere else to go. I'd like to help you, in any way possible, if only for the chance for me to right some of the wrongs that I've done."

"You want me to help you ease your conscience?" Potter scoffed.

"You couldn't possibly," Pansy spoke up for him. "Mine would be ten times worse than Draco's is, and even then, wounds leave scars."

"Yours would be?" Granger raised her eyebrows.

"Who's to say I have a conscience?" Pansy smirked as Draco smacked himself on the forehead in irritation.

"She can't help us!" Granger cried out in exasperation, turning to Potter. "I trust Draco as far as I can throw him, but even he is better than her!"

"Whatsa matter Granger," Pansy grinned, "did you honestly think you would have the same moral standards as a nasty death eater girl like myself"

"PANSY!" Draco snapped at her. "Enough! Save the tough guy act for someone else, no one here is buying it."

She shut up, but flashed Granger a Cheshire cat grin every time they made eye contact.

Potter began grudgingly explaining that they had been tasked with tracking down random objects, called Horcruxes that Lord Voldemort had created in order to preserve his soul. Thus, he could never die as long as the objects existed. It was dark magic, something Pansy had always been fascinated by, to create a Horcrux. One had to intentionally murder and then performs a complex spell to separate the damaged part of the soul left behind after committing the unforgiveable act.

It occurred to her briefly that it meant her soul was marred already as well.

So far three Horcruxes had been destroyed, and three more were still out in the world somewhere.

"By the way that Bellatrix freaked out when she saw we had Gryffindor's sword, we have reason to believe that she might be keeping one of the Horcruxes in her vault at Gringotts," Granger explained.

"Yeah, and we think it's Helga Hufflepuff's cup," Potter added.

"So…" Draco leaned back against a beached log. "How do we know if it's there for certain?"

Granger and Potter exchanged a look.

"We break into Gringotts and get into the vault, it's the only way to be sure," Granger said.

"Y'know, Pansy and I know a lot about how pureblood vaults work," Draco drawled. "Pansy really knows her stuff when it comes to old spells and curses, and I know how to get to the vault and how to get past the Goblins."

They all looked at her.

"Yeah, I always fantasized about being a curse breaker," she mumbled, embarrassed, "I'm good at that kind of stuff."

"Dark magic," Granger sniffed. Pansy ignored her.

"So what do you say Potter, do you want our help or not?"

"Hermione," Harry turned to her, "I don't really think we have a choice."

* * *

AN: And so the hunt carries on.

Thank you everyone for sticking with me! I'm glad that you have found something you like in our messed up little friend. Some of the details have been changed to fit the story line, but I work hard in my research to keep it as true to the original plot as possible. Of course, everyone experiences situations slightly different, so it's only natural for Pansy to have different vantage points and reactions to things that Harry may have not noticed or cared about. I think this gives a nice outside opinion.

Part Two will start popping up very soon.

I love you for reading, -O.


	11. Chapter 11

Part Two. Chapter Eleven.

* * *

Pansy. Shell Cottage. The night of the escape.

* * *

It was late when they finally arrived back at the cottage, Shell Cottage as she had learned it to be called. Being around all these people, _Other_ people, the people she had been taught to hate, was uncomfortable.

Draco was uncomfortable like her, but he was being incredibly cooperative, friendly even. Pansy didn't really know Draco to be friendly. Charismatic, sure, but friendly had never been used to describe him. He kept shooting her looks during conversations, urging her to say something and to wipe the reserved look off of her face, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

These people didn't know her. They knew her as the character she played: pureblooded daughter betrothed to the pureblooded son of the most powerful wizarding family in the country. They didn't know her as the girl who got good grades, fourth in their year; in fact, she was the second smartest girl in their year only behind Granger. Theo and Draco were second and third respectively. They didn't know that she had a knack for creating spells and finding loopholes, or that she really had a soft spot for animals. They didn't know she was a killer, or that she was allergic to strawberries, or that she drank to forget.

They didn't have the right to know her.

Draco was quick to say thank you as Fleur served them dinner, over-exuberantly, though Pansy did mutter a soft thanks. She had been raised properly, after all.

She noticed Granger and Potter didn't say anything about their search for Horcruxes in front of Bill and Fleur, and she didn't find the need to call attention to it after doing a quick inventory on what she would gain out of it. Not much.

She hadn't had to calculate social interactions like this in a very long time. She had had to resort to meek and bendable whilst being kept at the manor, a shell of her former self. Pansy Parkinson was many things, and weak was not one of them. Most of the time.

"We do not mind if you stay here, Harry," Bill was saying. "We do however, want to be kept in the loop. As secret keeper of the cottage, I need to know that there won't be any trouble," he cast a sharp look toward Draco and Pansy.

"There won't be," Draco said quickly. Pansy gave a slow nod.

"We'll let you two stay here, if and only if you hand over your wands," Bill said stiffly. "Should you need them, you can come to me and I'll hand them out, but I do not feel comfortable having the two of you walking around here with them."

Pansy jutted her jaw out and grit her teeth, but Draco placed a hand on her thigh, silencing her.

"We'll agree to that," He said firmly. Pansy fought the urge to roll her eyes as she pulled out her wand, her precious wand, and grudgingly handed it over to the oldest Weasley. Draco did as well.

"This is your wand?" Bill asked her, holding it on his palm and examining it. "I thought it would be…"

"Prettier?" She offered, a frown on her face. Her wand wasn't special, not ostentatious like some purebloods she knew. It was a very pointy, though crooked, larch wood, unicorn hair core, a modest eleven inches. Decorated at the hilt with a very simple rope design carving. Larch was a powerful wood, and it was a nice wood, but her wand wasn't the norm. Her own mother's wand had been encrusted with mother of pearl and emeralds.

"I didn't mean to offend your wand, it's just, I've seen wands that belong to people of your kind, and…" Bill shrugged, red creeping in his face.

"It fits me just fine," Pansy replied slowly and crossed her arms. Bill didn't say another word about it, and after more awkward silence, everyone regained civil conversation.

* * *

Fleur offered to take them to get settled in rooms for the night. Granger, Draco, and Potter quickly stood up, and she followed them.

"Harry," Bill stopped him, "a quick word?" Potter hung back and Pansy followed the others out, though she did stop outside the kitchen door long enough to hear:

"Do you really think you can trust those two?"

"I can trust Draco as long as I can keep an eye on him, but as for her, I think she's only here because she doesn't have anywhere else to go."

* * *

She was sharing a room with Granger and Luna Lovegood, who had been rescued from the manor during their escape. Lovegood was weakened and skinnier, but not physically damaged. The room was modest, white washed walls with bits of shell stuck in the plaster, with grayed wood floors and a single window. Two twin beds and a roll away cot took up the room. Lovegood had already been sitting up in a bed waiting for them, and Granger quickly took the other bed after shooting Pansy a dirty glare. Pansy simply rolled her eyes and sat on the cot, staring at her fingernails.

"This will be just like at school!" Lovegood was tittering, a wide smile on her face. Her buttery blonde hair was wet, having been bathed of the filth that had covered her in the dungeons. "One big sleepover!"

"Luna," Granger was saying gently, patiently, "can you talk about what it was like there? At school this semester?"

"Oh," her eyes cleared slightly from the glazed dreaminess that inhabited them. "It's very unpleasant. The Carrows torment the school, punishing and hurting students; they aren't very nice at all. Neville, Ginny, and I, we've restarted the DA, we try to help the others."

"They-they hurt students? Why?" Granger pressed.

"They say because the students are breaking the rules, but it's mostly half-bloods, or blood traitors," the girl said quietly.

"How do you help them?" Pansy asked suddenly, and the two girls looked at her. Granger sniffed and glared at Luna to be silent, but the ditzy girl ignored her.

"We stand up for them and we hide them," Lovegood answered. Pansy thought about that for a moment.

"Like how you all did during our fifth year? In that disappearing room?" Pansy asked.

"Why do you want to know? How do we know you won't snitch on them?" Granger growled.

"I was going to say I always thought that it was clever," Pansy drawled, "we could never get through to you lot. I imagine it's a very safe place, I wish I would have had something like that at the manor."

That shut Granger up, though the girl did start studying her very carefully.

"I heard you were tortured for many months," Lovegood said. "I'm sorry they hurt you, it must be hard, being hurt by the people who are supposed to be on your side."

"Yeah well, you'll find that He doesn't necessarily encourage loyalty between his followers, he only cares if you are loyal to him." Pansy said gruffly, "Besides, he ordered it, so they wouldn't have stood up for me even if they wanted to."

"Why did he order you to be tortured?" Granger asked. Her face was scrunched, a cross between pity and suspicion.

A red-hot iron pierced her lungs at that and she immediately closed herself off, guilt and self-loathing surfacing.

"Because Draco didn't murder Dumbledore," she finally said, firmly, leaving no room for further questioning. She laid back against the cot and turned her back to them, staring at the white wall in front of her.

The two other girls sat there in silence for a while, before someone got up and turned off the light. Pansy lay away for hours, although she was exhausted, fighting an internal struggle to not wander downstairs and rummage in the kitchen for some liquor.

A cry pierced her dark thoughts and she rolled over, startled. Granger was twitching, still asleep, though tears were pouring down her face. She was obviously having a nightmare, and Pansy knew what it was about. Hell, the girl had been tortured only a few hours before.

Grimacing, Pansy got up and padded over to the bed, sitting beside the muggleborn girl. Placing a hand on the girls shoulder, she shook her as gently as possible.

"Granger wake up-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME-" Granger sprang up before freezing at the sight of Pansy sitting there in the moonlight, "oh."

"You were crying in your sleep," Pansy said, looking away from her.

"I'm…I'm s-sorry to have woken you," Granger sniffled. Pansy winced at that.

"Think nothing of it, I had nightmares every night for a long time after my first time, even still now sometimes."

"H-how do you…" Granger shook her head, trying to phrase her question. She tried again. "How do you…move on from it?"

"Unfortunately, you have to do it all by yourself," Pansy answered honestly. "Other people, people who care, they aren't going to ask you about it, because they don't understand what it does to you. They don't understand the lasting damage, and they'll think that if they don't say anything, it'll be forgotten, and it'll go away."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it," Granger whispered. "Pansy…you had it happen to you over and over and over again, I can't imagine how you did it."

"Me either," Pansy said and stood up. "I think maybe I numbed to it. It still always hurt, no matter what, but over time, maybe I stopped caring, maybe I hoped it would just kill me, but it became a little more bearable."

"That's a horrible thought," Granger said, full of pity once more.

"Yeah, I guess I was never sober enough to consider it too much until now," Pansy answered and stood up. She was still dressed in her robes.

"Where are you going?" Granger asked her, eyes tired.

"I'm er, thirsty," Pansy answered and without a backwards glance, she slipped through the door and made her way down to the kitchen.

* * *

She was standing on the kitchen counter, trying to look inside a cabinet that was too high for her to reach from the floor. She wished she had her wand so she could cast a lumos, but as she didn't, she was forced to work by the dim moonlight.

Pushing a hand past jars of preserves, her fingers brushed against a glass bottle. Relief flooded through her, only to vanish when she pulled out a bottle of French vinegar.

The kitchen lights flashed on.

"Well, you don't really look like a burglar," a voice chuckled. She whipped around to spot yet another redheaded man leaning against the doorframe.

"Who are you?" She asked, still holding the vinegar.

"Charlie Weasley," the man answered, "I'm assuming you're the Slytherin girl my brother warned me about."

She stared at him for a long moment. He wasn't as tall as his brothers, nor very lean, a sturdier muscle build, stocky. He had broad shoulders and a thick chest, and when he flexed his arm to push himself out of the doorway, she saw thick-corded muscle covered in burn scars.

"Pansy," she answered finally. She looked down at her feet, realizing she was still standing on the counter, and quickly slid down back to the floor.

"What are you rummaging around my sister-in-laws kitchen for?" Charlie asked her casually, as if discussing the weather. He leaned against the kitchen table, studying her.

"I uh…" she hesitated and began studying the wood grain of the table, cheeks flushing.

"You were looking for alcohol?" He finished for her. Her head snapped up and she stared wide-eyed at him in shock.

"H-how…w-what?"

"You looked really excited before you realized that was just vinegar," he supplied for her before flashing her a cheeky smile. "I can tell you where the harder stuff is kept, unless you want to drink all of the salad dressing in the kitchen instead?"

"Sure, er, thanks," Pansy said and reluctantly followed him out of the kitchen and into the sitting room.

Charlie pulled back a painting of beach landscape to reveal shelves of alcohol hidden behind it. He handed her a bottle of whiskey.

"Rough day?" He asked her as he took a bottle for himself.

"Something like that," she answered, not meeting his eyes. "Probably worse for you."

"Yeah, not every day you get to bury your baby brother," He muttered. They were silent for a few minutes as she took quick swigs from the bottle.

"Why are you being nice to me?" She asked him finally, because it had been eating away at her slowly over the course of their interaction.

"My brother told me when I got here that you were trouble, bad news, and that you were once a little junior death eater," he chuckled at that. "I haven't been around in a few years, so I've never heard of you before, but I know that if Harry brought you here and is letting you help him, well, that's good enough for me."

"So you'll trust me, just like that?"

"Do I have reason not to?"

She shrugged at that. "I don't have any plans to betray Potter, and I…I like it here, by the water," she messed with a strand of inky black hair, "I haven't been outside much lately."

Charlie just looked at her. Not in a mean, suspicious, or pitying way, he just studied her, purely out of curiosity. She wondered what he saw.

"To battling our inner demons," he held his bottle out towards hers and she clinked it against his, giving a wry half-smile in return.

"Cheers."

* * *

AN: Charlie Weasley. Enough said.

Also, Pansy's wand is in fact the same as my own on Pottermore, I thought it was fitting. Also, in case you were wondering, I was sorted Slytherin/Horned Serpent.

What is your wand/houses?


	12. Chapter 12

Part Two. Chapter Twelve.

* * *

Pansy. Two days later. Shell Cottage.

* * *

She hadn't had a hallucination since Draco pulled her from the bathtub.

Two days had passed since their arrival, and aside from drinking with Charlie on the first night, really it was the morning, she hadn't a drop of alcohol since. Even before that, her vision had cleared. It's as if when she was pulled from the water that she realized she had to try to live with her demons.

Potter approached her on the second morning, after breakfast.

"We need to have a meeting, the four of us, up in mine and Draco's room, can you meet us there in an hour?" He asked her, running a hand through his unruly dark hair.

"Sure," she said easily, leaning back in her chair. She had been slow sipping her cup of tea, now cold, all morning, and she reached out to trace the lip of the mug idly.

He looked surprised she had been so agreeable. She quirked an eyebrow at him as he stood before her, uncertain. "Was there something else you needed to ask me?"

"Er, no, sorry," Harry said and turned to leave before turning back to her. His glasses were crooked on his nose, and slightly smudged. She thought it funny, since he was

"supposed" to be all-powerful. "Actually, I thought you might want some new clothes."

She looked down at her rumpled oversized robes she was swimming in. Beneath it she only wore undergarments, she hadn't thought about seeking other clothes to change into. "Whose clothes? Are you offering?"

He frowned, thinking she was being rude, but when she quirked her mouth up in a crooked smile he gave a sheepish grin.

"No, but I heard Fleur tell Hermione and Luna they could go through some old things upstairs, I'm sure it's still up there, it was a big box."

"Is that your way of telling me this robe makes me look fat?" She chuckled darkly and he gave a jerky laugh, so uncertain on how to read her pleasantness.

"I think it makes you look more like Snape," he offered, a sly look on his face, "all billowing."

She gave a snort and whipped her sleeves around and they laughed when it billowed.

"Alright, o' fearless leader, I'll go upstairs and change and then I'll meet you for the meeting in an hour," She stood up and took her mug to sink, pouring out the stale tea and placing it on the rack.

"Great, I mean, thanks," Potter ran a hand through his hair again. She wanted to tell him that if he kept doing that he might go bald, but she thought she was on a roll of being approachable, and thought better of it. She headed out of the kitchen and bumped into Charlie, who had been leant against the wall.

"Lurking in the hallway, Wheezy?" She smirked. He rolled his hazel eyes at her, but a smirk of his own was working across his face.

"You were being rather pleasant, Miss Prissy," he chuckled, "reading those etiquette books really did you well."

"Oh, it was etiquette classes," she said with a straight face, "at a finishing school." He stared at her for a moment before she broke out into laughter. He laughed along with her.

"Wow, you're actually funny," he wiped at his eyes.

"Don't tell the others," she muttered, shoving her hands into her pockets. "They might try to talk to me."

"Harry was talking to you."

"As a good leader should, though he certainly doesn't like me," she leaned against the opposite wall from him.

"You don't really give anyone the chance to like you," he offered.

"Yet here you are, lurking around in the hallway to exchange pleasantries with me," she gave a feline grin. "Besides, I was very amenable to Potter in there, in fact, some might even go so far as to describe me as friendly."

He rolled his eyes again. "Go find some new clothes, Prissy, you're gonna be late for your meeting on how to save the world."

"Can't save it when it's already gone to hell," she called over her shoulder as she began to climb the staircase.

* * *

Lovegood tried to get her to wear a yellow sundress and white cardigan, but she declined. Lovegood herself was wearing a pink jumper, red cords, and one bright yellow and one green sock, slippers on her feet. Granger was nowhere to be seen, but the box was still sitting on her bed, so Pansy helped herself. Lovegood informed her that it was a mixture of Fleur's old clothes and her little sister's.

Pansy found a pair of black pants that fit tight to her legs, though they were slightly too long and there was a hole in one of the knee's, she also found a slim black jumper that she slipped on as well. She allowed Lovegood to hand her some short black boots with silver buckles on the ankles and pair of grey wool socks. Fully dressed, she looked at herself into the slightly cracked mirror hanging on the back of the door. She could see her figure, still devastatingly tiny, but at least it wasn't so stark.

Her hair had grown longer in the months at the manor, brushing slightly below her shoulders, and her bangs were too long to wear down. She found a black ribbon at the bottom of the box and made a makeshift headband, pulling them back out of her face.

"A little dark for me, I like more color, but you do look quite nice not hidden in all that fabric," Lovegood gave her a genuine smile.

"Thanks," Pansy mumbled, red and embarrassed.

She thought it was time to go to the boy's room, so she gave Lovegood a nod and went down the hallway to the room. Giving a knock, she entered. Potter was sitting on the windowsill, anxiously jiggling his leg. Granger was sitting on a small stool in the corner, staring at the floor. She was dressed in some sort of gray jumper with a zipper down the front, muggle jeans, and trainers. Her frizzy brown hair was pulled back in a neat plait.

Draco was wearing muggle jeans as well! Pansy blinked at him in shock at first, never having seen him in anything muggle, but she had to admit it wasn't bad. He wore a long sleeve black long john shirt and his black shoes from before.

"Right," Potter said as she joined Draco on his bed. He gave her knee a quick squeeze. "We need to start coming up with a plan, we don't have much time to sit around and wait, not knowing if Bellatrix will go and move it somewhere else."

"So we have to find a way in, right?" Draco asked. "We can't just simply walk in and ask for the keys to her vault."

"Of course we can't!" Granger said sharply. She must have realized her tone, because she softened and tried again: "but I have this," she reached into the small beaded bag she had on her lap and pulled out a little test tube.

Pansy leaned forward, narrowing her eyes as she tried to make out what was inside. "What is that? A hair?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange's hair," Granger answered, looking pleased with herself. I found it caught on the chain of my necklace, and since I don't have black hair, I know it's hers."

"What are the odds," Draco grinned. "So we brew a polyjuice potion."

"Yes, and we'll have to be quick about it," Granger said.

"I think I know a few tricks to speed up the process," Draco offered. Pansy wanted to reach out and stroke his hair for how hard he was trying to get Granger to warm up to him. Potter was friendly enough with him, though slightly distrustful, but Granger really hadn't improved much.

"That…that would be lovely, thank you, Draco," Granger said quietly, looking uncomfortable. Pansy smirked, Draco was the top of their class in potions, even better than Granger, and she knew it had always irked the Gryffindor girl.

"So what? We try and map out what we know of Gringotts, what we know of pureblood vaults, and we just take a stab at it?" Pansy asked, frowning.

"We have Griphook here, the goblin we pulled from the manor," Potter said, "I thought maybe we could get him to help us, too."

"He'll know his way around the wards," Pansy nodded.

"Bill would, too," Granger offered timidly, looking at Potter. "Harry, I know we agreed to keep as many people as we could out of this, but Bill is a curse breaker for Gringotts, he would know a lot of useful information."

Pansy perked up at hearing Bill was a curse breaker. She got a delicious thrill from researching the roots of spells, finding ways around it, and had managed to create a few charms herself. She loved the complexity that came with all spells and hexes, but she also loved how ironically simple some of them could be.

"P, you should work with Griphook and Bill," Draco turned to her. Potter and Granger stared at her as well, one thoughtfully and the other with irritation.

"Why would _she_ help them?" Granger snipped.

"I met all the requirements on my O.W.L.S. for it," Pansy snarled, "and also I happen to be quite well-versed in how to get around hexes. Not to mention, I have a handful of successful charms I created on my _own_."

Granger was silent, mouth slightly open as Pansy lost her temper.

"Think what you want about my character, _Granger_ , but I'll assure you I'm no sniveling idiot, and I take pride in my skills."

She stood up, pacing on the oval carpet at the foot of the beds.

"Don't think I haven't heard you two, or the others for that matter, questioning my loyalty. I'll tell you once and only once. I am loyal to Draco; I owe him many times over, so I go where he goes. I also owe you both my life, since you let us come with you, and if not we would be dead back at the manor. So, like it or not, I owe you a favor, and I'll pay it with my loyalty and assistance in any way that I can manage."

"Very well then, you can assist with Griphook," Granger finally said grudgingly, nodding her head in defeat.

Potter let out a low whistle.

"That's the most I've ever heard you talk before, Pansy," He gave a sheepish grin and Draco barked out a laugh. Pansy rolled her eyes and sat back down on the bed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

* * *

AN: Some sloooowwwww character development for all of our friends. Pansy is still a brat, but she's at least not pouting anymore.

I don't mean to make Hermione such a, well such a witch, but I think she would have a hard time letting bygones be bygones. Ugh, I love a good cat-fight, so I'll be milking it a little while longer.

I saw on tumblr that someone referred to Draco, Pansy, and Blaise as The Bronze Trio. I LOVE THAT! What should we call our gruesome foursome?


	13. Chapter 13

Part Two. Chapter Thirteen.

* * *

Pansy didn't like Goblins.

They always creeped her out, whenever she would accompany her parents to Gringotts, she would move behind her father, shivers running down her back.

She didn't trust them.

Potter insisted they go to see Griphook, the Goblin rescued from the manor, to ask for his help. Pansy stood firmly in the corner, beside the bed that the wand maker, Ollivander, was lying in.

The Goblin was lying in the other bed, his legs regrowing, the sword of Gryffindor in his lap, glinting in the sunlight streaming in from the windows.

Potter sat tentatively at the edge of the bed, and Draco and Granger stood beside it.

"How are you?" Potter asked pleasantly, and Pansy rolled her eyes, never one for pleasantries.

"Alive," the Goblin said gruffly.

"You er, probably don't remember that uh-"

"That I showed you to your vault, the first time you came to Gringotts? Even amongst Goblins you are famous, Harry Potter."

"You're friends with the elf-"

"Yes-"

"That brought me here. Very unusual isn't it, a wizard being friends with a house elf?"

Harry simply sighed.

"How did you come by the sword?" Griphook asked suddenly.

"It's complicated," Potter turned to look out the window, "Why did Bellatrix Lestrange think it should be in her vault at Gringotts?"

"It's complicated," The goblin smirked.

"This beating around the bush is getting us nowhere!" Pansy snapped and Granger nodded in agreement with her.

"The sword presented itself to us in a moment of need. We didn't steal it," Potter tried again.

The goblin looked down at the sword in his lap, running his long fingers over the ruby encrusted hilt.

"There is a sword in Madame Lestrange's vault identical to this one, but it is a fake. It was placed there this past summer by an acquaintance."

"She never suspected that it was a fake?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows.

"The replica was very convincing. Only a Goblin would recognize that _this_ is the true sword of Gryffindor."

"Who is the acquaintance?" Granger asked.

"A Hogwarts professor, as I understand it, he is now the Head Master."

"Snape," Pansy answered Potter and Granger's confused looks before turning to address the Goblin. "He put a fake sword in Bellatrix's vault, why?"

"There are more than a few curious things in the vaults of Gringotts," the goblin said smugly.

"And in Madame Lestrange's vault as well?" Harry asked slowly. Griphook looked up to glower at him.

"Perhaps."

Pansy crossed her arms and cleared her throat, reminding Potter to simply get the point.

"We need to get into the vault."

"That is impossible!" The goblin snapped.

"Yes by ourselves, but with you, no." Potter said.

"Why should I help you?" Griphook growled, "What do I get from this?"

"Gold, loads of it," Draco offered.

"I have no interest in gold."

"Then what?" Draco asked. "Jewels? Heirlooms? Whatever you want it's yours."

"This sword," Griphook stroked a finger down the blade, "this is my price."

* * *

"So you think there's a Horcrux in Bellatrix's vault?" Draco asked once they were back in the boy's room. Pansy was longing on the bed behind him.

"She was terrified when she thought we had been in there, I can't think of anything else she would react so strongly about, can you?" Potter replied.

Draco shook his head no.

"Do we know what it looks like?" Pansy asked. "Something significant to him?"

"Dumbledore thought it might be something related to one of the founders at Hogwarts," Granger said.

"So what are your theories?" Draco asked and Pansy immediately began running through her memory, trying to think of different artifacts.

"Helga Hufflepuff supposedly had a gold cup," Potter said. "Sort of like a chalice, not very large."

"That could very well be in her vault," Draco nodded in agreement. "There's loads of stuff like that in my parents, I assume hers would be similar."

Pansy agreed.

"So we figured out how to get past the front desk, and we have Griphook to help guide us, but we still need to understand what sorry of hexes and wards she would have guarding it," Granger listed off.

"Is that where I come in then?" Pansy asked, "I get Bill to help me with it, too?"

They both nodded.

"I'll go talk to him," Potter said looking out the window, "I see him in the garden. I'll let you know what he says."

He left then and Granger followed after, mentioning something about research she wanted to try. Draco said he was going to take a nap and he told her she could stay if she wanted, but she declined.

"Think I'll go have a walk on the beach, being inside for too long makes me anxious ever since we got out."

He nodded and ruffled her hair as she left.

* * *

"That is a place for deep thinking," a voice called out for her. She startled, turning from where she had been staring out into the blue waves. It was Charlie.

"Not anymore," she shot him a wry smile. He chuckled and hoisted himself up sit beside her on a large boulder that was part of an outcropping of rock that jutted into the sea. Every so often, sea spray would splatter at them.

"You look like death personified," Charlie looked over her all black outfit. "But I do have to say that it is an improvement on the tent you were wearing before."

"My, you know how to flatter a woman."

"I practice my best lines on the dragons, I find they are great company," He grinned.

"Dragons?" She scrunched her nose at him in confusion.

"I'm a dragon researcher," he answered and pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a tattoo of a Hungarian Horntail on his forearm. "I work on a reserve in Romania."

"That's impressive," Pansy said. He looked at her to see if she were taunting him, but her eyes were serious and he gave her a warm look, nodding his head.

"I took a few days off," He turned to look out at the water, somber. "I'm closest with Bill, really, and I thought it would do us both some good to be together for a few days."

"How many siblings do you have?" She asked him.

"Six others…I suppose five now," he murmured.

"You still have six," she said quietly, looking out at the water as well. "That won't ever change."

They were silent at that.

"I can't seem to figure you out," Charlie said after a moment, turning to look at her. She met his eyes at that but then immediately looked away.

"Not much to figure out."

"I beg to differ, you're a mysterious person, Miss Prissy," he nudged her knee with his. "I have a hard time believing all the hype about you."

"What, that I'm a soulless minion to a deranged maniac?"

"No, that you're a self-centered bitch."

She gave a snort of a laugh. "It's half-true, but you'll find that the cruciatus curse is great for reforming spoiled brats."

He gave her a sad look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Don't apologize, it's true, and besides, I know what they say about me," she shrugged. "I've done terrible things, Charlie, horrible monstrous things. I'm not the damsel in distress like in the folktales our parents used to tell us, I'm the bad guy."

"That may be, but does that have to be all you ever are?"

She looked at him in confusion.

"I think people can change, whenever they want to, but only if they want to." He gave her a lopsided smile. "Maybe this is your time to do it."

"Maybe," she chuckled. "It's a nice thought at least."

* * *

Bill stopped her after dinner.

"Harry told me you managed to overcome the cruciatus curse when you were escaping Malfoy manor."

"He told you correctly."

Bill ran a hand through his long ginger hair. They were standing in the kitchen. Fleur was washing the dishes from dinner, her back to them, pretending like she wasn't listening.

"I've never known of anyone who could do that," Bill said. She simply nodded her head slightly.

"I hear you're also good with breaking and creating spells," he continued. "That you were taking courses toward the curse breaker job?"

"I've always fancied being one," she explained quietly, "I knew I never could become one, my parents told me that I was to become a housewife and marry Draco, but I wanted to know that I always could have made it, if I had the option."

"You could still become one, after all of this."

She let out a laugh.

"Do you really think anyone would hire me? Me? Pansy Parkinson, junior death eater?"

"I think they would, if I vouched for you, and if they knew you quit the dark side and helped Harry Potter."

"You would really vouch for me?"

"Possibly," He crossed his arms. "You have until that time to convince me, so I suggest we get to work studying the vaults in Gringotts now."

"Deal," she held out her hand and they shook it.

* * *

AN: I know, I know, I had to use some dialogue from the movie for the conversation with Griphook, but I think I did an okay job mixing it up a little bit, and I don't think I'll need to rely on straight dialogue from the movies or books again for the rest of the story. I've spent the day watching DHPart 2 and working out some kinks in the plotline ("FOR RESEARCH, BABE, I SWEAR!"). I haven't decided how many chapters my part two will be yet, but I still have some ways to go, so we shall see.


	14. Chapter 14

Part Two. Chapter Fourteen.

* * *

Draco

* * *

He never truly realized how brilliant she was. In school, she was a bossy know-it-all swot. She was Harry Potter's best friend, sidekick.

He watched her as she bent over the larger copper cauldron they had procured; the other was in the corner brewing the lacewings. She was currently at work replenishing her healing supplies, and having finished helping her, he was now simply watching her.

She was brewing Draught of Peace; she said she liked to keep on hand. He was surprised she let him help her, because she was more vocal about her discomfort with him, whereas Harry's awkward silence was easier to navigate. Harry spoke to him when he needed to, but he was the leader, so Draco respected that.

Granger was hard to figure out.

"Granger?"

"Hmmm?" She mumbled, not looking up. She reached up with her free hand to tuck a stray corkscrew curl behind her ear. She was currently adding the Syrup of Hellebore, the potion turning turquoise.

"Only one person in our fifth year potions class could successfully make this," he got up and walked around to watch her. She never stopped brewing; she couldn't, if she even messed up slightly, the potion would be ruined.

"What's your point, Draco?" She started shaking the porcupine quills.

"It was you."

"Yes."

He chuckled and watched as she made the potion turn red. "I never really thought about how impressive that was until now. We were only fifteen, and this is an intricate potion."

"It's not hard if you just follow the instructions exactly, it's like baking," she chuckled, her focus turning back to the cauldron.

"You bake?"

She sighed. "I did, with my mum."

"Not anymore?" He pressed, leaning against the wall. They were standing in a small shed that Bill and Fleur kept out back for the occasional potion that needed brewing, and they had an impressive store of ingredients.

"No…" she sighed. The potion was purple.

"Why not?"

She didn't answer him, and he was worried that he had overstepped too far. Minutes passed and she just kept brewing. Finally, she stepped awake from the potion, which had turned white, a silvery vapor emitting from it.

It was perfect.

She wiped her hands on her jumper, turning to him. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glassy. Her hair had frizzed in the heat from brewing and stuck up all around her face.

"I obliviated them, my parents, this summer," she told him quietly. "I knew I had to protect them. They live in Australia now, and they have no idea they ever had a child."

"You did that, to your own parents?" He frowned, reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder. She flinched.

"I don't need you to tell me how messed up that is," she snapped, turning from him.

"No," he stopped her, grabbing her arm, "I meant I can't believe you had to do that, and I'm sorry. That's got to be one of the hardest things I've ever heard of." He was sincere. He found a newer, deeper respect for her. Granger wasn't just a genius, she was strong, she was a force to be reckoned with.

"Thank you," she whispered. Not meeting his eyes. "Draco, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I've been hard on you these past couple of days. I used to defend you, you know, to the boys. Ever since…ever since Ron-" her voice broke, "I don't know, I just felt like I had to make sure I could always protect Harry, because I couldn't protect Ron. You, you were just, a risk, a huge risk that I couldn't just let by."

"I understand, and it's okay," he told her. "I never expected you to just let me in easy, I knew it wasn't going to be easy the moment we got out of the manor." He laughed ruefully. "Doing the right thing isn't always easy though, is it?"

"It's not," Granger agreed and she looked at him, giving a wide smile that stunned him. She had a good smile.

He had never noticed.

* * *

Pansy

* * *

"You'll have to count in physically getting past the guards, Probity Probes, and the goblins at the counters as well as what's beneath Gringotts," Bill was instructing her. They were bent over the kitchen table, looking over old tombs on protective charms and hexes, as well as some detailed drawings he had made from memory about the tunnel system to the vaults.

"Now, the er, purer the blood and wealthier the family, the deeper the vault, as I'm sure you, uh, know," Bill mumbled, his ears turning red.

"My family vault is not as deep as most," she said quietly, "I know plenty of families who go deeper than ours."

That seemed to settle the awkwardness, because they continued on.

"Tell me, if you don't mind, what protects your vault?"

She thought for a moment. "Ours does not have a key. You have to uh, draw blood and wipe it on the door. It only opens for those in our family," she murmured.

"That's a common security measure, lesser vaults have use of that one," Bill said. "While it's effective, I'm not sure the Lestrange's will be using it."

"No," she agreed, "I don't think Bellatrix Lestrange would want to draw her own blood every time she goes to get money out, not when she can use less…physical means."

"Do you have any wards or protective charms over the contents inside?" He asked her. She nodded.

"We use the Flagrante charm," she said and pulled up her sleeve to show an old burn. "I made the mistake of getting too close to some heirlooms inside when I was seven, never had to be warned about not touching things again."

Bill let out a sympathetic laugh at that and she grinned. He showed her old spells he had encountered in Egypt when he worked as a curse breaker, spells that caused intruders to hallucinate and see their worst nightmares, charms that made the person fall asleep and forget where they were, and spells that unleashed venomous snakes into the old vaults and tombs.

She was so intrigued by it all and spent much of the time thumbing reverently through the pages of the old tombs, reading each spell carefully and discussing the countercharms with Bill, who seemed rather pleased at having someone to talk about his work with.

She even showed him her own protective charms she had created. He was quite impressed with her Pure Heart charm, which only allowed people with pure intentions into a selected area; thus, enemies could never hope to get near.

"How did you think of this one?" Bill asked after watching her cast it several times.

"My parents didn't like having me around, so when I got back after my first year at Hogwarts and they realized they didn't want to tolerate me for a summer, they sent me to live out in the carriage house behind our estate," she said quietly as she waved her wand to break the charm. "However, my dad would still sometimes want to come inside when he was drunk and attack me, he claimed it was my fault my mother liked to step out on him with other men, so eventually I made this charm up, and he couldn't enter no matter how hard he tried."

"I'm sorry," Bill said quietly. "That's horrible. No child should have to experience that from their father."

"It's okay, our house elves could always enter, they usually stayed there with me when they weren't needed in the main house. They raised me and made it a home for me."

"Where will you go after all of this?" He asked, a look of concern on his face.

"I don't know, I hardly doubt that my parents will let me come back, even if I made it so I'm the only warded one who can ever get into the carriage house and they've fled the country, I'm not sure I want to live so close to their house."

"Would you go with Draco? Aren't you two…betrothed?"

"I don't know if even he can return home, he dueled with his father when we were escaping, and—" she sighed, "we aren't betrothed anymore, which is a good thing anyway since we never wanted it, my parents broke it a few weeks ago."

"I'm sorry," Bill apologized again. "I never thought about what your life would have been like, we always assume the old pureblooded families have everything they could ever want."

"We do, but that's overrated," she laughed, uncomfortable with his pity. "My parents are the unhappiest people I know, and they've never had a want in the world."

"Well," Bill said gruffly, standing up and wiping his hands on his trousers, "if you need to, if you want I mean, we would… we would be happy to have you come stay with us, for as long as you need to."

"Really?" She perked up, a smile on her face, cheeks turning pink. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Of course," Bill said. "I was wrong about you, Pansy, I judged based off what I've heard, and now I know differently. You, Draco, even Harry and Hermione can always come back to Shell Cottage, no questions asked."

"Unless you want to come ride dragons in Romania," a voice teased from the doorway. She looked over and gave a grin at the redheaded man in the doorway.

"Is that your way of asking me out?"

* * *

AN: A little sweetness, a little character development, and a bridge, all wrapped up in one delicious chapter for you all. Bill makes a good big brother figure, don't you think? And Charlie and Pansy…ugh winter months always make me soft and dreamy. Also, poor Draco finally gets somewhere with all of his effort trying to make amends.

P.S. I made a lot of the curse breaking talk vague on purpose, mostly because there isn't much to go off of, so I try to improvise the best I can. Just assume there is a lot more information inside the tombs, and I'll be bringing some of my own creations to life in the next few chapters, as well as some other charms I found in my research.


	15. Chapter 15

Part Two. Chapter Fifteen.

AN: Fluff ahead.

* * *

Pansy

* * *

"I don't know about this," Pansy frowned, stopping outside the cottage. Charlie turned to her, amused, hands in his pockets. "Shouldn't we be…you know…laying low?"

"You're already disguised," he pointed out. She reached up to tug on her hair, which had been charmed blonde. The results were…mixed, Charlie had winked at her and Bill had cringed. She was also in the yellow dress and cardigan that Luna had selected the other day, light colored robes over it.

"I can't believe Bill is letting us do this," she mumbled, folding her arms. She had been joking with Charlie when she had asked him if he was asking her out a few days ago, but apparently he had taken her seriously.

"Why not? You don't look like yourself, Harry, Hermione, and Draco are staying here, and I'm no where near on their radar," Charlie said and held out his hand to her. She grudgingly took it, intertwining her fingers with his.

She was finally allowed her wand, no longer a risk.

Charlie was leaving tomorrow. He had to get back to work, having had two weeks off. She was going to miss him, he had become her favorite friend. She wasn't sure really where they stood, they had started out as friends, but he had referred to this as a date, and he was holding her hand.

This was way out of her comfort zone, she had never had to guess whenever Draco had taken her anywhere, mostly because the rest of their friends had been around as well, as also because Draco didn't really do romance.

They walked outside of the ward boundaries, and she was relieved to see that no one was waiting to ambush them outside them. Maybe her problem was that she felt guilty leaving Harry, Hermione, and Draco, even if it was just for a few hours. Harry had brushed her off earlier, telling her she could have a night off since they had been working so hard and were nearly ready to go. Draco had warned her about not acting like her normal bratty self, laughing all the while, and Hermione had nodded in encouragement.

The past few weeks had really done wonders for the four of them. They had all put on some weight, not looking so starved, and they looked healthier and cleaner for sure. Harry and Draco generally got along quite well, bickering good naturedly, and Draco also worked well with Hermione. Hermione had warmed up to them both, especially with Pansy, though it was slow. Harry tried really hard to be okay with Draco and Pansy, it was easier with Draco because they could channel their rivalry into competiveness and insults and still get away with it, but with Pansy it was more awkward. He tried, though.

They were simply waiting on the polyjuice potion to be ready and for Griphook to be completely healed.

"Where are we going?" She asked as he apparated them away. They were caught in a dizzying tilta-whirl of colors and shapes and she didn't hear him answer. An instant laughter, they were standing in Diagon Alley.

"Charlie," she hissed, looking around frantically. There were hardly any people walking around, and they all kept their heads down. "We can't be here!"

"Sure we can," he whispered back and began leading her to a boarded up, yet colorful crooked building. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"That's your brothers store," she said. He chuckled. "Witty _and_ observant, you are." Instead of stopping up the boarded up front doors, he took her around the back. Rapping his knuckle against the door, they waited. She was shifting from foot to foot uneasily while he nonchalantly hummed an old Irish tune.

The door swung open.

"Enter-"

"If you dare-"

Two voices called out pseudo-menacingly. Charlie rolled his eyes and pulled her inside, shutting the door firmly behind them. She had to adjust to the darkness. It appeared they were standing in a storage room.

A light flared to life and she flinched, looking away for a moment. When her eyes were readjusted, she turned to see two gangly gingers grinning devilishly at her.

"Why is it always Weasley's," she grumbled and they laughed. It was Fred and George Weasley. Two years ahead of her and notorious Gryffindor pranksters.

"Ah, Miss Pansy Parkinson-"

"a pleasure, a pleasure,"

"We hear you got the hots for our brother-"

"we apologize, we thought he was lying to us when he told us-"

"but here you are! In the flesh! Holding handles with a stocky freckly git!"

She blinked, her head whipping back and forth as she tried to catch up with their quick banter. She noticed one was missing an ear.

"Don't mind them," Charlie whispered to her as the twins continued on with their comedy routine, "we're just passing through to use their floo, since Bill disabled his."

She nodded and stepped closer to him, listening as they went on and on, something about Charlie being the saddest excuse of an apparator.

"Gred?"

"Yes Forge?"

"It appears the two love birds have lost interest-"

"Ah yes, Forge, they aren't even listening to our clever interlude,"

"A shame, dear brother-"

"yes, yes, quite the shame-"

"and to think we are assisting our travel-lacking big brother, too!"

"The nerve-"

"That's enough you two!" Charlie held up his hand. "While we appreciate the theatrics, we don't have all night."

"Well all you had to do was say something, right Gred?"

Charlie rolled his eyes as the twins led them out of the storage room and into the shop, which was surprisingly clean and still stocked.

"We tend to get only back alley business," one of the twins, George maybe, whispered to her. "Keeps us going."

"It's also a great time to experiment on new products," Fred agreed as he led them upstairs.

"The twins are developing a line of products that help…er, combative situations," Charlie said. She perked at that.

"Really? What sort of things?"

The twins grinned.

"We have a knack for fireworks and explosives, but we've been having trouble with some," Fred explained.

"We can't get some charms to stick right," George added.

"You know, Pansy is pretty good with spells and charms," Charlie said and she shot him a look, turning red.

"Not all of them," she mumbled. The twins either didn't hear her or didn't bother listening.

"Really? You want to take a look at them?"

"Er," she looked at Charlie, who nodded, "sure?"

"Just for a minute," he warned his younger brothers. They both hurriedly assured him it wouldn't be but a second and he scoffed but followed after them. They led her to the dining table sitting in the center of their flat. On it was dozens of little containers, vials of powers and liquids, and other odds and ends.

"Which one needs the most help?" She asked, sitting down on a stool as she examined them. George nudged a red box toward her.

"This one is a never ending firework that almost anyone can't stop," he said, "but the problem is, we can't figure out the counter curse we need to actually get it to end when we need it to."

"What curse did you implement to get it to explode non-stop?" She asked, reaching for the box.

"We used Bombarda Maxima for destructive purposes and then a variation of Fianto Duri to keep it going and makes it basically unbreakable," Fred said.

"Brilliant," Pansy muttered as she ran a fingertip across the box. "Very powerful…I wonder…"

Here she was silent as she thought, turning the box this way and that. The twins were fidgeting impatiently and Charlie was watching her with deep interest.

She cast a bubble shield charm around the box and used a flick of her wand to lift the lid, at once fireworks exploded inside repeatedly without stop, and she continued thinking as her eyes flicked back and forth watching.

"I wonder…" she murmured and raised her wand and gave it a flick, " _Omnia Fiant_." She watched with a small smile as the fireworks died down into nothing.

"Great Merlin's testicles!" George crowed and threw his arms around her. "You're brilliant Miss Parkinson!"

"Can you stop all our other tests for it?" Fred asked and walked over to a small chest, inside where many other bubble shields filled with exploding fireworks. She rolled her eyes and stopped those as well.

"I'm impressed," Charlie gave her a beaming look and she coughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and looking away in embarrassment.

"If you ever want a job helping us develop our explosion line, or any other line, you let us know!" George said as he walked them toward the fireplace.

"We could use another business partner!" Fred ruffled her hair.

"I'll keep that in mind," she laughed, "if you need any more help, you know where to find me."

With that, she followed Charlie into the floo. He called out "Dublin, Ireland!"

They were in a small muggle pub, and it was everything Pansy had never know she had wanted, and more. It was tiny really, all oak wood and built in cubby-hole booths. They could slip in one and never been seen if they didn't want to, which is exactly what they did.

He ordered them a thick beef stew with bits of bread on the side and tangy ale to drink. It was simple and delicious. Lively music played, not too loud, and no one bothered them save for the server.

"I love it here!" She said as she looked around their booth, which was decorated with old pictures and newspapers and fairy lights.

"I come to this pub a lot when I want to get away," Charlie grinned tossing his ale back. "It's a nice break from the dark stuff going on."

"It feels like there isn't even a war going on," She mused, dipping a chunk of bread into the stew. "Thank you for bringing me."

"I had to say goodbye properly," he said and she peeked up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "Even if you don't look like yourself."

"What? You don't like the blonde?" She grinned, tugging on a lock of hair.

"Believe it or not, I like the scary black hair and clothes and makeup," He reached out and ran a single finger against the underside of her wrist. Her stomach immediately filled with butterflies and she looked away shyly.

"You aren't afraid of me?" She asked quietly. "I've warned you before that I'm not one of the good guys."

"You are now," he said and took a bite of stew. "Besides, I know _you_ , and nothing else matters."

She took a deep breath. "Charlie, you're...you're like my favorite person, and I care about you a lot. There are things you should know, things that might change your mind about me, but I don't want to keep things from you."

He held up his hand. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I know you had to do things, bad things, and I won't hold them against you."

She looked down at her lap.

"Even if I told you I've killed people?"

She said this so softly, so quietly, she wasn't sure he heard. She was frozen, unmoving, waiting for him to say something. It was so quiet so suddenly.

"Even then," he said and she flinched, looking up at him. Her lip trembled and she fought back tears as she met his hazel eyes. "You are changing, Pansy, you are shining, you are…everything."

She fought back tears, turning away and rubbing at her makeup free-eyes harshly. "I'm sorry, I don't cry usually."

He grabbed her wrists in his and she turned to meet his eyes again.

"It's okay," he traced a thumb down her wrist again, "I'm here."

Pansy was breaking, crumbling, and suddenly, she felt more alive than she ever had before.

* * *

He walked her to her room that she shared with Hermione and Luna. She turned to face him uncertainly.

"I had a great time tonight," he told her. He was standing so close, she could count the freckles on his nose if she wanted to. "I had a great time getting to know you over the past few weeks."

"Me too," she said quietly, nervous. "Thank you…for…everything."

He chuckled at that, and its warmth pierced her chest and she wanted to bask in the glow of his eyes forever.

"Pansy," he was saying and when she refocused he was looking at her with such seriousness that she was worried he was upset with her, but then he touch her cheek and she leaned into his touch, eyelids flickering closed, and she heard him murmur a charm. When she opened her eyes, he had a lock of hair between his fingers, stroking. He had changed her hair back. Blushing, she opened her mouth to say something, but then he bent slightly and kissed her forehead and she sighed, smiling.

"I'll see you soon," he told her and she simply nodded, watching as he went back downstairs.

She stood like that for a long time, frozen, staring after him, before she turned and slipped back into the room.

"How was it?" A voice asked in the darkness. Hermione.

"Magical," she breathed, climbing into her cot.

"Your aura is so bright," Luna whispered and she bit back a snort. "It's not as dark as it used to be."

* * *

AN: Omnia Fiant is a rough translation to "all is accomplished" in Latin. I just used an online translator, so please do not be upset if it isn't 100% accurate!

I don't know how you guys like the change in action from part one, but I really wanted to show a positive change from some of the scariness going on with Pansy before. Second chances are nice, right? Part 2 is more of a transition, Part 3 is where the action and drama is, and you won't be unsatisfied, I promise.


	16. Chapter 16

Part Two. Chapter Sixteen.

* * *

AN: I didn't get much response for CH. 15 like I hoped. I hope you all liked it. If it's not dramatic enough for you all, I hope this chapter makes up for it. Coming up: our gruesome foursome get uprooted and Hermione and Pansy finally go at it.

* * *

Pansy. Two days after the date.

* * *

"Pansy," a voice said and shook her shoulder. Pansy grumbled and rolled over, turning her back to them. The person shook her harder. "Pansy! We have to get out of here! There are death eaters outside the wards!"

That woke her up.

Rolling over, she blinked to see Hermione standing over her, looking frantic.

"How much time do we have?" She asked as she got up, pulling on her clothes quickly. Luna was sitting up in her bed, wide-eyed.

"Not sure, we just need to move," Hermione sighed and began stuffing things into the small beaded bag she carried with her.

"Common Lu, get dressed," Pansy said to her, using her softest voice. The girl nodded and got up, pulling on her spangled orange jumper she loved so much.

They made their way downstairs to where Bill, Fleur, Harry, Draco, Dean, Ollivander, and Griphook were waiting.

"What are we gonna do?" Pansy asked, walking over to lean against the arm of the chair Draco was sitting in.

"We need to figure out where to send you guys," Bill nodded to the four of them plus Griphook. "We can send Dean, Luna, and Mr. Ollivander to my Aunt Muriel's."

"What about you two?" Harry asked him, his typical guilty hero expression on his face.

"They can't do anything to us," Bill said.

"Eet es our house," Fleur said firmly, looking stubborn, "zey will 'ave no proof if zey somehow get through ze wards, we 'ave charms to make et look like you were never 'ere."

Pansy nodded.

"We aren't sure they will get through, the might just get tired and go home, they don't even know what is here, they just know something is warded against them," Bill explained. "We just know we need to play it safe and get you out of here."

"Okay, so where can we go?" Draco frowned.

"Grimmauld Place is out of the question," Hermione said. "So is my parents house. We still have to finish the polyjuice potion, we just need another week, so we can't camp."

"I know a place," Pansy said and they all turned to stare at her. "It's warded by my own design so no one but me and anyone I decide can ever get in."

"I should add your Pure Heart charm to my own wards," Bill said, "I haven't perfected it yet, though."

"You will," she assured him, and her mentor smiled at her.

"Pure Heart charm?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I invented it," Pansy explained. "Only people with good intentions, pure innocent intentions, can ever get it. If they even have a violent thought floating through their subconscious, they won't be able to enter."

"Deep," Draco muttered in an effort to break the tension and Harry fought a smirk. Pansy rolled her eyes and Hermione ignored them all together.

"Do you think it will hold?"

"I have many instances where it has been tested, and it has yet to break," she said semi smugly. Hermione nodded slowly, as did Harry.

"I'll go gather the potion ingredients and shrink the cauldron," Hermione said and stood up. Draco got up quickly to help her.

Harry stood, awkwardly, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry we have to leave this way. Are you sure you two will be okay?"

"Of course we will," Bill said. "Do not apologize, we are doing this because we want to help you, Harry, all of you."

Harry's guilt seemed appeased by that because he turned and began talking quietly to Ollivander.

Pansy walked over to her mentor.

"Thank you for everything," she muttered, meeting his eyes shyly.

"Of course, Pansy," Bill put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of how far you have come. You will be a brilliant curse breaker."

She smiled. "I learned from the best."

"I meant what I said, the other day," He glanced at Fleur, who nodded at her in agreement. "You always have a home here."

"Thank you," and with that she hugged him. A rare thing for Pansy Parkinson to do. Bill seemed just as surprised as she was, but after a moment he hugged her back. She even went and hugged Fleur, who squeezed her tightly and murmured something comforting in French.

Harry was calling to her then, and they all walked out. Bill and Fleur led them a bit away, across the cliffs, to a different point outside the ward boundaries, free of the three death eaters that were still waiting outside, staring at what they could see, which was just an empty beach.

She stood between Hermione and Draco, holding their hands. They held Harry and Griphook's hands respectively, and with one last half-smile toward the others, she apparated them away.

* * *

Hermione

* * *

They appeared inside a small entrance hall. Harry and Hermione had their wands at the ready, though if Pansy noticed she certainly didn't say anything, and Draco didn't appear concerned either.

"Pansy?" Harry ventured slowly, "er—where are we?"

Pansy gave a dark chuckle that made the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck stand up, and she shook herself quickly, reminding herself that Pansy was an ally now. _Old habits die hard._

"My house," Pansy replied and she stopped and opened her arms wide, turning to face them, seeming to take in the place as if she, too, was noticing it for the first time. "It's an old carriage house a couple acres behind my parents estate."

"You live here all by yourself?" Hermione asked, confused.

"My parents sent me to here when I was eleven, and only me and the house elves can get in, well, now you guys can, too."

"They won't know we are here?" Harry pressed.

"My parents are in hiding, bloody selfish tossers, and they aren't even in the country," she said as she admired the large entrance hall that Hermione noted was about the size of the living room in The Burrow.

Hermione drank in the bright white marble floors, silver stonewalls, and high ceiling that held a glittering crystal chandelier. Very light and bright.

This was not the home she expected of a Death Eater, but then again, Pansy's surprised her everyday.

She examined moving portraits of rolling old English countrysides and the large round table in the center of the room that boasted an enormous arrangement of white roses.

It appeared as if the war and darkness hadn't breached the little carriage house.

"It's…." Hermione exhaled as she lowered her wand, awe in her eyes, as she tried to think of what to say. What could she say? _It's not so horrible as I imagined? This doesn't look like the home of a Death Eater?_

"Ironic?" Draco supplied as he helped himself to a large comfy looking green velvet chair, seeming to relax into it with ease.

Griphook was standing in the corner, looking reserved, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized everything.

"I'm sorry for our awkwardness," Hermione murmured, her eyes wide as she overcame the visual shock, "it's just…. we hadn't ever imagined you would live in a place that wasn't so…. dark."

"This was my safe haven growing up," Pansy said quietly, "it's a place where I could be myself, the next closest place would be Shell Cottage."

Hermione opened her mouth to say how beautiful it was, but just then, a black panther strode into the room. She immediately jumped back with a squeal and Harry raised his wand, stepping in front of her.

"Pluto!" Pansy cooed and wrapped her arms around the neck of the beast, which began rubbing its face against her head affectionately, purring. "I missed you!"

"Pansy! You have a panther for a pet?!" Hermione stuttered, peering out from around Harry's shoulder, her own wand raised slightly.

"Of course she does," Draco smirked darkly, "it's half-Kneazle, half-panther, what else would you expect from her?"

"He's the most glorious baby kitten ever," Pansy cooed at the large cat, he licked her face affectionately. Harry and Hermione lowered their wands again and straightened, relaxing as they took in the interaction between one of the most feared students they knew and her pet.

Hermione noticed that the cat was slightly smaller than what she would assume was normal jungle cat size, instead, probably around the size of a large dog, and it had a plumed tail.

"I didn't know it was legal to breed Kneazles and wild cats," Hermione admonished, stepping forward tentatively and holding her hand out to Pluto. Pluto turned from Pansy and sniffed at her hand before giving it a lick.

"It's kind of more frowned-upon," Pansy admitted, "technically speaking, there haven't been any laws broken."

"He's….friendly.." Harry offered as they watched the large cat turn from Hermione's hand to rub himself against Pansy's legs, almost knocking the waifish girl over in the process.

"Of course he is! He's a perfect gentleman!" Pansy gave a laugh that almost sounded like a giggle, "Common, lets see if we can't find some food."

They entered a nice homey kitchen and after Pansy called out a soft "Effie" there were several pops and three house elves appeared.

"Missy!" The house elves cried happily and she gave them tender hugs. Two were female and wore neatly pressed lace pillowcases as smock dresses, the other was a male dressed in an old sweater.

"I'm home!" Pansy chuckled to them. "Everybody, this is Effie, Muffy, and Hugo."

They said hello and the house elves bowed to them. Griphook didn't say anything.

"They raised me," Pansy explained.

"Missy is our girl," Effie said with a warm motherly smile. "She is being our favorite, we is loving her really much."

Muffy and Hugo nodded and Pansy blushed.

Hermione realized how exhausted she was, having been woken during the middle of the night. She slumped in the breakfast nook with the others as the elves quickly made them some sandwiches and tea, chattering away with Pansy.

She was grateful they were immersed in their own conversation so that she could eat her sandwich and fight to keep her eyes open. Draco and Harry looked exhausted as well.

Hermione watched Pansy as she went about in her world at home, snuggling with her jungle cat kneazle and speaking surprisingly kind to the house elves that raised her.

It was such a startling realization that not all "Death Eaters" or pure-blooded Slytherins were awful beings.

Sure, Pansy had been a menace in school and was still a sarcastic, closed off, moody brat, but she also had a soft and genuine side that Hermione was beginning to realize only comes out when she is around people she can trust.

"Come, Muffy and Effie is be showing Missy Granger and Missy to beds," Effie said and motioned for the two girls. "Hugo is be showing Master Potter and Malfoy and Master Goblin to they's beds."

All at once they were being led upstairs and showed into rooms.

A comfy looking armchair in Pansy's suite was conjured into an even comfier looking bed and Hermione was thrilled. Dressed in clean pajamas, she crawled into her bed as Pansy did the same in hers.

She looked around the room, which was decorated in typical Pansy fashion. Dark floral wallpaper, rich velvet greens, and on the bedside table was a pearly while skull carved out of a marble. If they were in the muggle world, Hermione would describe Pansy Parkinson as Goth.

"You're staring," Pansy muttered and Hermione shook herself, looking guiltily away from her.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Hermione sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Wondering how in the world a girl like you got to be having a sleepover at Pansy Parkinson's house?"

"A girl like me?"

"Perfect," Pansy chuckled, though it sounded like a growl. "You have everything. The Gryffindor princess who can do no wrong."

"Not even close," Hermione sighed. "You don't know me, you don't know my life."

"Let me guess, Granger, you had a mummy and daddy who loved you, who talked to you, who supported you, yeah? Two best friends and an adopted wizard family. Perfect grades, loved by all…am I getting close?"

"What about you?" Hermione rounded on her. "Tell me about your childhood. Tell me what it was like to be betrothed to Draco? Tell me that."

"It was hell, Granger," Pansy said darkly. "Until recently I've never known happiness."

"So that's why you were so nasty in school," Hermione pushed. She knew she was slightly out of line and that it wasn't right to prod at the temperamental girl, but she wanted to know more.

"Someone had to be," Pansy said, "I was just fulfilling the role set out for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Common Granger, I was sorted in Slytherin! You all wouldn't have liked me even if I had no ties with Draco or The Dark Lord! Come off it, you really think I could have been anything else but the bad guy? I was a _Slytherin_ , and in case you haven't noticed, everyone hates us already, from the moment they aren't sorted in our house, and they don't change their minds about us." Pansy cried out, sitting up to stare incredulously at her in the darkness, illuminated by the moonlight. Hermione flinched.

"I-I never thought about it that way."

"Of course you haven't, Granger! Why would you? Forget the war, forget the fact that I actually was part of the "bad guys", I could have been kindest person in the school and you all still wouldn't have trusted me. That's how it is for us Slytherin's, it's us against the rest of the school, we know our roles, and so we play them."

"I'm sorry, I just always assumed-"

"You know that's what always irritated me with you, Granger, you always had these assumptions in class, like you just knew you were always right, and it didn't matter if you weren't, you would tear down anyone who tried to correct you."

Hermione felt like she was being slapped in the face.

"No, I didn't do that-"

"You're doing it right now, Hermione. You think you know everything, and I'll hand it you, you are the smartest witch of your age, but you assume things, you go along with your moral righteousness bullshit, and you don't ever consider that you might be wrong."

"Yeah, well you attack anything that even remotely resembles normalcy, because you can't face the fact that you've never had it!" Hermione burst out, angry. She was seething, embarrassed, guilty, because she knew Pansy had gotten to close to the truth, truth that shamed Hermione at night when she realized she was no better than some of the prejudice purebloods she fought with.

"I think you're guilty about the things you've done, though I don't think we even know the half of it, and you're confused because Charlie Weasley sees something in you that the rest of us haven't yet! You resent your parents and the fact that you never felt an ounce of love from them, but when your house elves or Bill and Fleur show you affection you bask in it like a cat in the sun! You're fucked up, too, Pansy Parkinson, but that doesn't mean you can use it as an excuse your whole life!"

There was a long silence.

"So that's it then?" Pansy scoffed finally. "We finally got out everything we've ever wanted to say to each other?"

Hermione laughed bitterly, "Yeah, I suppose we have."

"Guess all that is left to do is become friends," Pansy's voice was sarcastic, yet Hermione could feel the earnestness of it.

"I suppose you're right."

"Good," Pansy said in the darkness. "I think you might make a pretty decent friend."

* * *

Part 2 is almost finished, which means conflict conflict conflict is starting back up. Let me know what you think so far.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: A few things I wanted to expand upon! A lot of you thought this was a Hansy story… I'm terribly sorry to disappoint but this will be a Chansy story….and a Dramione (AH! GASP!) story. I've been waiting a bit to put it out there, but alas, here it is.

Also some of you thought the mourning time was a little short over Ron. I assure you, because I love me some Ron Weasley, that he is very missed. Pansy simply doesn't pick up on the grieving, that is, she isn't going to consider it nor address it as much as Harry or Hermione would. Not to say that she is selfish or apathetic, she just is worrying about other things. In her world it is "Ron Weasley is dead, his friends are sad about it, and it was a horrible accident." Ah, point of view is so fun. Shout out to one of my reviewers for understanding this.

* * *

Part Two. Chapter Seventeen.

* * *

Pansy. End of April. Carriage House.

* * *

 _C-_

 _I am not sure if you know, but we had to move along. I will try to keep you updated on my whereabouts. I hope you are well enough and I hope you know that I miss you. Your kiss managed to catch me off guard, but next time I will not be so easy to fluster and can give you a proper goodbye. Well, off to go save the world and whatnot._

 _Until next time,_

 _P_

She sent a quick note with Hugo to get to Charlie, thinking it better than risking an owl being intercepted. Pansy honestly always preferred using house elves to take the occasional quick note, simply because their magic was so complex and different and they could go anywhere they wanted.

Soon enough, Hugo popped back into her bedroom and handed her a small note.

"Thank you, Hugo," Pansy smiled at him. The little elf bowed to her and scurried off to find Effie and Muffy who were baking in the kitchens. Effie and Hugo were mates, Muffy was Effie's sister.

 _Prissy,_

 _I like your elf. He's a funny bloke. Thank you for letting me know, I'll check in with B in a bit to see how they are holding up. I'm waiting with baited breath to see what stunt you pull next… and you most certainly will be seeing me sooner rather than later for that goodbye._

 _Yours, C._

His. Mine.

He signed it "yours". If she was the sort of girl that swooned, she would have, but be that as she wasn't, she simply flushed and stuffed the noted in the drawer of her writing desk in her room.

If this was last year, and she was still in the dungeons with her fellow Slytherins, she would have maybe confided in Millie, or even Tracey and Daphne, to celebrate with them. However, now she couldn't, as she was sure her friends would know better by now not to go near her with a ten foot pole.

Briefly she thought she could mention it to Hermione, ask her what that meant, but she wasn't sure the bookish girl would have much excitement to spare as she was spending all of her time engrossed in finishing the potion.

If Luna were here, she would maybe show her, because Luna would have certainly noticed the smile on her face and asked why.

It was easy to like Luna Lovegood, she was naturally good, she didn't have to try. Someone like Pansy was drawn to that goodness, like a moth to flame, because one could only hope some of the genuine purity could wash off on them.

Luna just didn't judge, and she didn't have to try like everyone else did. Even Hermione and Harry had to try, Pansy noticed, doing the right thing all the time doesn't always come easy, unless you are someone like Luna. It was easy for Pansy to strike up a friendship with the dreamy girl, which made it all the more challenging to befriend the Gryffindor girl that shared a room with her, because if you could befriend one good guy, surely you could figure out how to make things right with the other.

There was a knock on her door. Pluto who was laying at her feet lifted his head, curious. She stroked his head and told whomever it was to come in.

It was Draco.

"Hey stranger," she greeted her oldest friend, watching as he sat on the edge of her bed. Pluto glanced at Draco and then laid his head back down, resuming his nap.

"Long time no see," Draco deadpanned and Pansy smirked. He was clearly here to ask her something but was stalling, and Pansy decided to play along with him and torture him in the process.

"I thought you might have left," Pansy grinned as she got up and stretched, taking a giant step over Pluto to walk over to her drawers. She pulled out a pair of fleece socks and sat on the floor to slide them on.

"Nope," he said slowly, popping the p with his lips, "still here, just busy with the potion and Hermione."

She cocked an eyebrow at him and said nothing.

"Pansy?"

"Draco?"

They said that at the same time and she laughed. She let him try again.

"Pansy?"

"Yes, Dray?"

"I uh, wanted to talk to you about something," he fidgeted, running a hand down her downy comforter, not looking at her.

"You're breaking up with me," Pansy joked and he shot her an uncomfortable look.

"Er, sorta," He stalled again. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Dray, we aren't betrothed anymore, it shouldn't be weird, you can say whatever you want."

"I just wanted to make sure it's okay for me to like other girls," He burst out and then immediately turned scarlet. She chuckled.

"That didn't stop you before, when we actually were "together," she air-quoted.

"Yeah, but I didn't like them-"

"Not like how you like Granger," she said and there was a long silence as he let out a deep breath.

"How do you know that I-"

"Oh it's quite obvious," Pansy drawled, scooting over and laying back against Pluto, who didn't so much as twitch a whisker at her. "You started out innocent enough, just trying to get her to forgive you for being such an arse all these years to her, but then you went and caught the coddly wobbles for her."

"Coddly wobbles?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know what I mean," She dismissed him with her hand.

"So…you aren't mad?" She wanted to get up and smack him for being such a coward.

"Of course I'm not mad you little shite!" She cried out, a grin on her face, "I've quite enjoyed watching you mercilessly fawn over her all these weeks. 'Oh I'll help you Hermione' 'anything you want Hermione' 'don't worry I'm here for you Hermione." She mocked in a high-pitched voice.

"I haven't," he grumbled, ears turning red.

"What makes you think I would even be upset? Conceited much, you prick! I'm seeing Charlie…or whatever, you know what I mean, why would you think I care that you're in love with Hermione?"

"I just wanted to make sure, P!" Draco sighed, exasperated.

There were a few beats of silence and Pansy's eyes wandered before realization struck her. She grinned and decided to continue pushing the envelope.

"So… when did you realize you liked her? You know, more than friends?"

"When she was brewing Draught of Peace a few weeks back," Draco sighed, an arm slung over his eyes, lying back on the bed. "She had this look in her eyes, and she talked to me, like I was just a normal guy, not some monster."

"She is _pretty_ ," Pansy said with a Cheshire grin, "so, what are you going to do about it?"

"What? Nothing! I can't do anything about it, she doesn't see me like that for one, and for two, she's still getting over Weasley, I can't disrespect her or him like that."

"Wow, Dray, you sure are noble," Pansy said and stood up. Without another word she padded over to the door and flung it open, revealing a red faced sputtering Hermione Granger. Draco immediately turned pale, his mouth falling open in horror.

"Oh hey Granger," Pansy greeted her casually. "I'm off to get some lunch, hungry?"

Granger was staring at them, her face flushed in embarrassment and whatever else, and Draco was opening and closing his mouth in shock.

"No, not hungry?" Pansy's grin grew wider. "Well, see ya around."

She walked off at once, Pluto shooting out of the room to follow her. Hermione stood in the hallway unmoving before ducking into the loo. Draco scrambled out of the room and into the one he shared with Harry soon after.

She was going to be in big trouble.

* * *

Harry. Same day.

* * *

Dinner was an awkward affair. Pansy was wearing a shite-eating grin that quite honestly disturbed him, he didn't know how she managed to swallow water like that.

Hermione and Draco were both red-faced and not looking up from their plates, but they were both only picking at them, moving their forks around. Griphook had opted to dine separately in the room he was staying in, though his legs were fine at that point.

Harry glanced at Pansy, sure she was the culprit of this.

"Do I even want to know?" He asked as Draco reached for the pitcher of water at the same time as Hermione, the both of them jumping back.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Pansy shrugged, feigning innocence. There was more awkward silence as dinner finished. Honestly, he had enough to worry about without adding whatever weirdness Pansy had stirred up. Draco got up abruptly, disappearing upstairs, which he found weird since he had been helping Hermione so much over the past few weeks. Hermione left to go to the sunroom where she had been working and Pansy was sitting on the counters engaged in conversation with the elves. He looked down to see Pluto staring up at him.

"Your owner is mental," He told the big cat, who simply blinked at him.

"And now I'm talking to a cat," Harry sighed, rubbing his temples. Draco came back into the kitchen, ordering Pansy upstairs to have a word with him. Harry just stared at them, unnoticed.

Pansy was about to follow him when Hermione burst in.

"It's finished!" She cried and they all jumped.

"The polyjuice is complete?" Harry looked up, surprised.

"Yes," she said breathlessly.

"So when do we leave?" Pansy rubbed her hands together gleefully.

"Tomorrow morning," Harry said. "We go to Gringotts tomorrow."

* * *

AN: Had to stir up some drama, but hey, we're going to Gringotts everybody! Part Two is almost over, just three more chapters to go!

The entirely of the Battle of Hogwarts will take place over ten chapters.


	18. Chapter 18

Part Two. Chapter Eighteen.

* * *

Pansy. Midnight.

* * *

Pansy couldn't sleep, she was too antsy and she was going through counter-curses and charms at rapid speed in her head. She was fidgeting so much lying in bed that finally she got up and started to pace around it.

"Parkinson," Hermione growled in the darkness, "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," Pansy froze. "I forgot that you were in here." She sat on the edge of her bed. "I can't sleep."

Hermione sighed. "Me either."

There were several beats of silence and Pansy began pacing again.

"Pansy."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Pansy held up her hands and sat back down. "I pace when I'm anxious."

"So…you want to tell me what that was all about earlier?" Hermione asked patiently.

Pansy braced herself for confrontation, but didn't sense any.

"Fine, fine," she held up her hands again even though she knew Hermione probably couldn't see her. "I knew you were there, the Slytherin in me got a little carried away, I didn't mean any harm by it, though."

"I know you didn't," Hermione sighed again. Pansy thought that girl was always sighing, always sounded drained, like she carried the world on her shoulders. Guess she did, having to constantly clean up Potter's messes..

"Really?" Pansy quirked an eyebrow, bemused.

"I've been around you long enough to know your cues, Pans," Hermione gave a laugh. "I know when you're being serious and when you just want to be funny."

"I'm offended," Pansy snarled, "I'm _very_ funny."

"Sometimes," Hermione grumbled.

"So, elephant in the room? Want to talk about my dear best friend, Draco Malfoy?" Pansy gave a laugh like a giggle. She liked Granger when she wasn't in her typical noble, stick-up-the-bum, righteous Gryffindor mood.

"I don't know what to say. I'm…flattered? I'm…shocked maybe? Maybe I'm not," Hermione got up and turned on the light, facing Pansy head on. Her face was flushed and her hair wild. Pansy realized the appeal, what Draco saw. The girl had straight bedroom hair. "I think that's my problem, honestly. I think I'm so freaked out with myself, because I think I knew all along he liked me, all these weeks, and I just went along with it, because then I could keep up the little bubble, the little…"

"It's like you're sticking it to everyone," Pansy nodded. "You could stick it to every pureblood who's ever thought you were disgusting, or unworthy, or less than. I get it, in your head, you could be like 'well the Slytherin prince likes me, so there!' I get it, I really do."

"But that's not just it!" Hermione cried out, holding out her hands, as if pleading with a jury. "It was like that a first, it was, but then…then it was more than that…"

"Charming, that one," Pansy chuckled knowingly. "Sucks ya right in, makes you think all kinds of silly thoughts."

"Er," Hermione looked at her with great big doe eyes, clearly thinking she had offended her.

"I mean, not for me," Pansy said quickly, "I just get it."

"I don't know how to…" Hermione made a reaching motion, struggling to find the words,

"Bridge the gap of just friends and not just friends?"

"Yeah. I just…me and Ron, we broke up, he left us for a while in the winter, and it was over. Even when he finally came back, I still couldn't forgive him, I mean he just got angry and _left_ us! How was I supposed to- and then it didn't matter, and then when it should have, it was too late and he was gone. _Forever_." She had tears in her eyes, frustrated, red hot tears.

"You won't have to explain it to me," Pansy assured her. "Not ever. You're grieving, no one can question that. I haven't been exactly soft, but I see it, you're hurting and conflicted." She was thoughtful for a minute before adding, "Draco wouldn't make you explain that either, and I don't Harry would also."

"So what do I do?" Hermione asked, exasperated.

"Can't tell you that," Pansy shrugged. "You'll just know when you know."

Hermione sighed, thanked her, and mumbled something about going to get some air. Pansy knew it was almost morning, almost dawn, and so she crawled back into her bed where Pluto was lounging, snuggled against him, and tried to take a quick nap.

* * *

Hermione. Before Dawn.

* * *

She had always liked to watch the sun rise, used to get up occasionally, early so that she could greet it properly, the day.

Sitting there, in the dewy grass, cross-legged, she waited. Sighing, she rolled her shoulders, her mind going a mile a minute. Guilty. She understood why Pansy had taken to drinking, why Draco had, well, she had seen his arms.

Whipping her wand out, she flicked her wand out, muttered an "Expecto Patronum", squeezing her eyes shut and digging for her happiest memory with her parents, eyes opening to see her familiar otter burst from her wand tip.

She felt him join her on the grass, but she didn't break her concentration, eyes unfocused as she gazed as the silvery breathy otter rolling around in the grass before her.

"It's pretty," he murmured, arms leaning on his knees as he watched it. She spared a look at him, his hair silver in the moonlight. He looked to be glowing.

"Thank you," She murmured and turned back to the otter, which was beginning to fade.

"What's the occasion?" He asked her and her lips quirked up in a sullen smile. Her conversation with Pansy earlier that night was echoing in her mind.

"I cast it when I need a reminder."

"What are you trying to remember?" He asked her quietly, carefully, and she thought he sounded as if he afraid if he asked too quickly or too harshly he might break her.

"Ron's patronus was a Jack Russell Terrier," she murmured thoughtfully as she recast the patronus, the otter appearing again. "They're known for chasing otters."

"Oh," Draco said and then was silent. She thought he thought he might have offended her. "That's quite nice." He said finally, genuinely.

"Yeah, I suppose it was," she smiled. "I cast this and it helps me, clarifies things for me, you know? I can look at this and feel peace, everything is quiet and put into perspective for me."

"I envy you," Draco nodded, understanding but not quite.

They were silent again, but it was a comfortable silence, companionable. She was itching to say something to him, but she didn't know how to, how to cross that bridge she had described earlier.

"I meant what I said," Draco said finally, startling her. She turned to peek at him, her breath catching in her chest. "Earlier? With Pansy? I meant every word, I wanted to make sure you knew that…I didn't know you were standing there, but I would have said the same things if I had known."

"Draco…" she sighed, closing her eyes, feeling a heaviness on her shoulders that was pure exhaustion.

"Don't," he held up a hand to stop her. "You're grieving and I respect that. We're friends, yeah?" She nodded quickly at him. They were. "I feel that way, and I don't expect you to, but if you wanted to, one day…that would be…I would be…" He shrugged.

She understood what he was saying. He would wait for her. That thought warmed her and she blushed, looking away from him. She quite enjoyed working with him, bantering with him about the right way to speed up the potion process, and she couldn't deny that he wasn't beautiful to look at.

"Thank you," she murmured and touched her hand to his. "I'll come find you when I'm ready."

He gave her a grin.

"Can you teach me how to do one?" He asked and motioned to the grass, even though the otter had dissolved.

"You can't?" Hermione wrinkled her nose.

"We weren't taught like you were," he explained. "Besides, they told us that bad guys can't make one."

"They said that?" She was appalled, horrified.

"It's what they didn't say, it's what their eyes said," he murmured. She thought about that for a moment, the Gryffindor in her wanted to go to battle for him, defend his honor, but she simply nodded and recast the otter for him, watching him smile as he gazed at it.

"Ooh neat trick, what is it?" Pansy's voice gushed from above them. They turned to see her, "battle ready" in her typical all-black ensemble. Black jacket, black t-shirt, black jeans, black boots. Her hair, which was longer than Hermione ever remembered, was pulled away from her face.

* * *

Pansy. Dawn.

* * *

"Ooh neat trick, what is it?" Pansy's voice gushed from above them. They turned to stare at her incredulously.

At their blank stares Pansy rolled her eyes, dropping her faux smile "Relax, I know what a patronus is."

Harry, who was standing beside her with Griphook, grinned at that.

"Can you do one?" Hermione asked innocently.

"Not a vapor," Pansy said, shrugging. "Tried it once, realized it wasn't for me, so I don't try it anymore."

"Wasn't for you?" Harry asked, confused.

"Only happy people get to do those," She smiled sincerely. Harry looked at her with pity, Draco used the awkward silence to stand up and dust himself off, and Hermione cleared her throat.

"Alright, are we off then?" Hermione let Draco pull her up to her feet. Pansy cocked her hip to the side, putting all her weight on her left leg, which meant she was leaning slightly on Harry, who didn't seem to mind.

It appeared they were all going to let Hermione be leader for a few minutes. The sky was bleeding pink, birds were chirping, the world was coming alive. Fragile. That's what came to mind when she thought about Dawn. A small, fleeting chance for anything, possibilities endless.

She watched as Hermione pulled out a vials with a long curly black hair in it. Draco was holding three cups of polyjuice potion.

"Here," Hermione reached into her beaded bag and handed another vial to Pansy. Pansy had a long silvery blonde hair, she would be posing as Fleur, under the ruse of cleaning out her desk, having quit a few days before to stay at home and "raise her family."

Hermione quickly transfigured Draco to have a shaggy black hair and a beard, an effort to make him look like a Lestrange relative.

"Ready?" Harry turned to Griphook, who nodded grudgingly. Harry knelt so that Draco could help the goblin climb on Harry's shoulders.

"Ready?" Hermione looked to her. Pansy nodded and dropped Fleur's hair into her vial of polyjuice, just as Hermione did with Bellatrix's.

"Here goes nothing," Pansy sighed and quickly took a swig of the potion, relieved when it tasted slightly like honey and rosemary. She felt the changes sizzle through her quickly, her bones creaking slightly as she got taller, feeling her chest and hips fill out more, hair turning platinum and falling to her waist. All at once, she was Fleur Weasley.

Standing before her was Bellatrix Lestrange, in a pink jumper. Rolling her eyes, she handed Hermione a black dress and cloak.

"Don't roll your eyes so much," Hermione snarled at her. It was disconcerting, being chastised by Bellatrix Lestrange. "Fleur isn't nearly so sullen."

"Fine, but you need to sound harsher, not like a teachers pet," Pansy shot back. Hermione rolled her eyes at her this time.

Pansy quickly threw on royal blue robes that Fleur had sent her, covering her black outfit.

She had a newfound respect for Bill's wife, for allowing her to impersonate her, risking her own reputation in the process.

"Alright Pansy, you and I go first," Harry nodded to her and she watched as he threw his invisibility cloak over himself, effectively covering Griphook and him, vanishing. She grabbed hold of Harry's thumb, reaching slightly under the cloak, looked to Hermione and Draco, winked, and let herself be pulled away into apparition.

* * *

AN: Here we go!


	19. Chapter 19

Part Two. Chapter Nineteen.

* * *

Pansy. Diagon Alley/Gringotts. Early morning.

* * *

With a quiet pop they touched down in a small side street of Diagon Alley. She let go of Harry's thumb and they began walking toward the main street. Her back was straight and her hair fluttered around her, she focused on walking like Fleur, shoulders back and nose slightly tilted; confident.

"Relax your shoulders just a little," Harry muttered to her, "But good job, you look exactly like her." She nodded and let her shoulders give a little bit. She heard a distant pop and knew Hermione and Draco had arrived and would begin walking in a few moments.

On the main street, she noticed again that most of the shops were boarded up and there were very little people on the street, a stark contrast from the usual crowded chaos.

They were approaching Gringotts, sharp pristine white and standing in the center of the square.

"Here we go, here we go," Pansy muttered as she stepped up to the large bronze front doors where they were met by two wizard guards dressed in scarlet and gold and holding probity probes. Harry muttered a quick "Confundus!", so that when they scanned her they detected nothing, smiling stupidly at her. One winked, clearly charmed by Fleur's beauty.

They passed through into a small antechamber, and she couldn't help but quickly read the words engraved on the silver doors that led to the main hall.

 _Enter, stranger, but take heed_

 _Of what awaits the sin of greed_

 _For those who take, but do not earn,_

 _Must pay most dearly in their turn._

 _So if you seek beneath our floors_

 _A treasure that was never yours,_

 _Thief, you have been warned, beware_

 _Of finding more than treasure there._

Taking a deep breath and entering slowly, she made sure Harry and Griphook were still with her before she began walking across the large marble hall lined with long counters that were filled with dozens of working goblins. No one paid her any mind, and if they did, they did not look at her long.

She walked toward the far end and stepped up the main desk, where the Chief Bank Teller was sitting, as Fleur had assured her.

"Monsieur Ricbert, hello," She purred, mimicking Fleur's heavy accent. Ricbert glanced up at her, only showing mild surprise.

"Madame Weasley, I was not expecting you today, I was under the impression that it would be several more weeks until you returned to collect your things and close out your accounts," the goblin said slowly.

"Yes, zhat was ze plan, but my 'usband wanteed me to do eet early, so zhat I do not 'ave to travel when I am further in my preegnancy," She smiled and placed a hand on her flat stomach, she knew she was laying the French accent on a little too thick, but hoped it would be sufficient enough. "My maman had deefficult preegnancies with my seester and I, so he wanted to be on ze safe side of zings."

"Very well," Ricbert nodded in agreement, "Go on back to your office and finish your business, Madame."

"Zank you," Pansy gave her best charming smile and fluttering of eyelashes before stepping around the desk and toward the door that led to the offices.

They were right on schedule, because she could hear Hermione and Draco entering.

Stepping in the corridor led with offices, she quickly found Fleur's small, neat office. Entering and closing the door, she turned to where she assumed Harry would be standing.

"Give them a moment to start talking, and then we'll slip out," Griphook said and they agreed.

She waited a minute and then slipped underneath the cloak with them, managing to fit because of her small size.

They slowly made their way back down the hall and slipped through the door and back behind Ricbert's desk.

Hermione and Draco were standing there, and Hermione was clearly hesitating before the unaware Ricbert. They moved to stand beside Draco.

Hermione shook herself slightly, thrusting her shoulders back, chin in the air before shrilly demanding, "I wish to enter my vault."

Ricbert didn't so much as glance up from the paperwork he was looking over. He lazily muttered "Identification?". If Pansy was in any other situation, she would have laughed at that, but as it were, she remained silent.

Hermione tried again after Draco gently prodded her with his elbow. She had a foul, nasty look on her face and snapped back "I hardly think that will be necessary!"

That seemed to rouse, if not offend Ricbert, whom glanced up at her before visibly startling, shrinking back in shock. "Madam Lestrange!"

"I don't like to be kept waiting," Hermione growled, though Pansy could see beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. Ricbert turned and went into the hallway where the offices were, before returning with another goblin behind him.

"They know! They know she is an imposter! They've been warned!" Griphook hissed and Pansy reached to flick him with her finger, silencing him.

"Relax," Pansy breathed, so quietly she could barely hear it herself, but Hermione must have, because she took a deep breath.

"Certainly Madame Lestrange, if you would just present your wand," Ricbert held up a long-fingered waiting hand.

That stumped Hermione, who drew herself up, crossing her arms. "Annnd…why would I do that?"

"It's the bank's policy, we simply want to conduct a brief identity check, surely you understand," Ricbert frowned, "And your ….?" He turned to look at Draco.

"Cousin," Hermione said stiffly.

"Cousin?" Ricbert raised an eyebrow.

"My cousin. Miguel." Hermione affirmed quickly. Pansy wanted to smack herself in the forehead at that one. Draco glanced at Hermione sharply, but nodded, muttering "No English," and returned to staring at the floor.

Ricbert stared at them for a moment. "Very well, your cousin, Master Miguel, will need to present his wand as well, for our records, you understand of course."

Pansy rolled her eyes with so much force she was sure her eyeballs would fall out of their sockets.

"No I most certainly do not understand! You certainly know who I am!" She cried. Pansy noticed that the security guard by the entrance doors was slowly walking toward them.

"I'm afraid we must insist!" Ricbert was getting angry now.

"Harry…they know…" Draco muttered, barely moving his lips. Pansy felt her hands shaking, _shite shite shite shite_.

"Imperio," Harry whispered and a calm look washed over Ricbert's face. He nodded his head, holding his hands up in surrender, "Very well Madame Lestrange, if you will follow me, I can take you to your vault."

Pansy let out a sigh of relief as they passed through the door, standing at the top of a tunnel that would take them further beneath the bank, toward the deepest vaults.

"Miguel, really?" Pansy cried incredulously, whipping off the blue robe and shrinking it with her wand before shoving it into her pocket.

"I was nervous! It was the first thing that came to my mind!" Hermione cried out, red faced as Draco helped her into the cart that was waiting for them, Ricbert at the helm waiting patiently.

Harry was pulling his invisibility cloak off, revealing Griphook and himself, and his handed it to Hermione who stuffed it into her beaded bag. Griphook quickly slid off of Harry's shoulders.

"That was too close for comfort," Draco grumbled, helping Pansy in as well before climbing in, Harry following him.

"Nice Imperius, Potter," Pansy gave their leader a toothy grin, and he winced but mumbled a quick 'thanks'.

The cart took off down the tracks at a perilously fast pace whipping around twists and bends, taking sudden drops and shooting over hills.

Pansy let her guard down for one moment, pressing a hand to her mouth as she felt nausea roll over her, but then quickly shouted.

"SHITE! WATCH OUT! IT'S THE-" A splash of water crashed over them as they shot through a waterfall pouring down over the tracks.

"Thief's Downfall…" Pansy groaned, staring down at herself, no longer disguised as Fleur. Hermione and Draco were themselves again as well, and Ricbert was no longer under the Imperius curse.

"WHAT THE DEVIL ARE YOU ALL DOING DOWN HERE? THIEVES!" Ricbert shouted angrily, but Harry quickly Imperiused him again and the goblin quieted, looking content.

"Sorry," Pansy mumbled to her grouchy friends who shot her hard looks, "I'll focus from here on out."

"Wow, thanks," Draco snapped back at her and she fought the urge to kick him in the shin. Instead, she shoved her way to the front of the cart and stood between Ricbert and Griphook, remaining vigilante for upcoming security measures.

A glimmer toward the top of the tunnel caught her eye and she whipped her wand out.

"Salvio Hexia!" She called out, holding her left hand upwards as she slashed her wand downwards with her dominant hand. At once, the rocks that would have come tumbling down on them were halted and repelled against the sides of the tunnel.

Wailing alarms began going off.

"They know we're here!" She called over her shoulder to her friends.

All at once, they were flung from the cart, freefalling downwards. Pansy shouted out a quick "ARESTO MOMENTUM!" which stopped them from smashing into the ground a mere foot aware. Sighing, she let them drop and they hit the hard dirt-packed floor with a thud, at the bottom of a deep rocky cavern.

"PANSY!" Draco cried out, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at her, "You had one job, you didn't have to foresight to figure or we were going to be tossed out!?"

"I didn't see that one coming!" Pansy snarled back, rubbing her head and pushing Griphook off of her legs.

Stories and stories above them, they could see carts descending, headed straight toward them.

"Just curious, but is there any other way out of here?" Draco asked Griphook, staring with wide eyes up above them.

"No," Griphook got up, jostling Ricbert in the process.

"THIEVES!" Ricbert shouted as he got up, the alarms having to have released him from the Imperius again.

"Oh shut it, Ricbert!" Pansy smacked him as Draco Imperiused him again.

"Did you really have to hit him?" Draco asked her and she rolled her eyes and smacked him in response. Hard.

"OW!" Draco yelped and lunged at her.

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed, getting to her feet with her arms held out in warning for them to be silent. They heard the distant thundering sound of _something_ shrieking in the distance.

"That doesn't sound good," Draco mumbled and Pansy smacked at him.

"Will you stop that!" Draco rubbed his arm.

With the carts closing in, they had no choice but move toward the sound. Harry and Pansy took the lead, followed by the two goblins, with Draco and Hermione in the rear.

"Fancy this Potter, you and I, leading the troops into battle," Pansy said with a grin, wand at the ready as she glanced at Harry. They were rounding a bend in the cavern.

"At least your jokes are sort of funny," Harry whispered back and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. Her nervous habit had always been laughing and joking around, and she had to seriously refrain at the moment.

They entered another smaller cavern and were greeted with a disturbing sight. Pansy immediately crouched into a defensive position, Harry and the others doing the same.

It was a seriously albino dragon, crumpled on the floor, chained to prevent it from flying. It was shrieking, sensing their presence as it slowly got up.

"Bloody hell!" Draco groaned.

"That's a Ukrainian Ironbelly," Hermione whispered, her face horrified.

"Yep," Griphook said and handed small instruments to Draco and Harry. The Dragon heard them talking and lurched toward them, a small burst of fire escaping from its lips. Griphook and the boys began shaking the instruments, clankers, which made loud sounds and kept the dragon at bay.

"It's been trained to fear the sounds, when it hears them it expects pain!" Griphook explained as they edged around the cavern.

"That's barbaric!" Hermione protested angrily, revulsion in her eyes.

No one said anything to her and they made it around the dragon and into a small alcove where the door to the Lestrange vault was waiting.

Griphook, who was leading Ricbert around by his sleeve, grabbed hold of the other goblins hand and pressed it against the large vault.

The door swung open immediately and they all ducked inside as the dragon began roaring again.

Pansy didn't even have enough time to look around before the slamming sound of the vault door startled her, and she turned to see it closing and locking them in.

"Great," she snapped.

"Lumos," Harry said and illuminated his wand, the rest of them following suit.

"Okay Pansy, if there were ever a time to actually do your job, it would be now!" Draco said to her from his place beside Hermione, who ignored his jab.

"I said sorry!" Pansy snapped back before focusing. "Okay, nobody touch anything, let me have a look around." They all stood still, taking in the large vault that was piled high with coins, jewels, and rare and impossibly expensive artifacts and heirlooms. It was maddening, every thief's dream.

"Not bad," Draco whispered quietly, to himself, taking it in, but even Pansy had to nod in agreement. It was a decent fortune.

"Salvio Hexia," Pansy tried the spell she had used earlier again, though it didn't reveal anything, not that it was expected to.

"Pansy, anything?" Hermione asked her.

"That should have created a determent for most hexes and curses," Pansy said quietly, "but I don't think we should touch anything except the horcrux, just to play it safe.

Hermione nodded and called out "Accio horcrux!"

Nothing happened.

"Thought it was worth a try," Hermione shrugged and they all returned to scanning the bounty.

"The typical type of magic won't work in here," Griphook said finally, as if their attempts had been juvenile.

That gave Pansy an idea. "Let me try one more thing," Pansy said and whispered "Omnes Revelare."

At once, a smoky vapor hovered over everything in the vaults.

"Just as I thought, don't touch anything, they're probably using the Gemi-" Her warning was interrupted just as Hermione stumbled, knocking into some gold cups which clattered to the floor, and crying out as her skin got burned from where it had brushed against the gold.

"They're using the Gemino and Flagrante charms!" Pansy cried and took hold of Hermione and Draco who were closest to her. "Do not move, everything you touch will multiply, and don't let anything touch you, it'll feel burning hot!"

"Can you stop it?" Draco called out to her as the cups continued multiplying around them.

"Right there!" Harry cried, pointing across the room to where a cup was sitting atop a mountain of gold. "I need something to reach it!"

Pansy stood still muttering counter curse after counter curse, an endless stream of Latin as she tried to find a way to stop it.

Hermione whipped out the sword of Gryffindor and threw it to Harry, who caught it. He began crawling up the gold pile, ignoring the burns as the coins multiplied rapidly.

Coins and other artifacts began raining down on them and soon they were up to their waists. Pansy ignored the burning at her lower half, trying to dig into the recesses of her brain for something, anything to make it stop.

Draco and Hermione were pressed against each other and shouting in pain as the artifacts piled up around them. Draco had one hand on the back of Griphook's collar and the other on Ricbert's and was physically trying to hold them aloft, away from the burning gold.

Harry was near the top and Pansy was getting desperate, the gold now chest level with her.

"Gemino Finem!" She tried in vain. "Omnia Consummata Est!"

Nothing was working and finally she pointed her wand and with one last-ditch effort, she flicked her wrist at Draco and Hermione and shouted "Praesidium!"

At once the two stopped screaming in pain, even though the gold continued piling up. She quickly cast one on herself and then the two goblins, at once Draco let go of them and started moving toward Harry.

She turned to look for Harry. He was throwing himself up to the top of the coins, working through an ever growing pile. She shot the same protection spell at him, and if it worked or if he noticed, he didn't say anything or look back.

Pansy and Draco were both moving to help Harry and Griphook was moving toward the vault door.

"STOP MOVING! WE'RE GOING TO BE BURIED" Hermione cried out and they froze.

They stood frozen, artifacts falling up to their shoulders, as Harry was slowly moved upwards atop the ever growing coins, and reaching out with the sword, he aimed to stick it through the handle of the cup as the coins piled up around him, covering him.

Pansy tried in vain to crane her neck to see him. One last counter curse popped into her head and she screamed out "Fit Officium!" At once, everything stopped moving and she sighed with relief, though there was no sign of Harry.

The three of them were breathing heavily, waiting for Harry to reappear.

To be continued...

* * *

AN: Here is a rough translation of the spells Pansy used. Again, they were created using a generic online translator, so if they aren't perfect, I apologize.

Omnes Revelare = Reveal all

Gemino Finem = end Gemino

Omnia Consummata Est = Everything is finished

Praesidium = protect

Fit Officium = duty accomplished


	20. Chapter 20

Part Two. Chapter Twenty.

AN: Shout out to anyone who caught my Teen Wolf reference in the last chapter. The Miguel bit makes me crack up every time. Anywhats, onwards and upwards.

* * *

Pansy. Continued…

* * *

Harry resurfaced, shooting out of the coin pile, sword and horcrux in hand. "GOT IT!" He shouted and threw himself down, tumbling toward the vault door. Pansy, Draco, and Hermione scrambled after him.

Griphook immediately reached down and snatched the cup from Harry's hands where he lay at his feet.

"We had a deal Griphook!" Harry growled.

"The cup for the sword!" Griphook shouted back. Harry glared at him and handed the sword up to him just as Pansy, Draco, and Hermione reached him.

Griphook tossed the cup at him, and Hermione caught it.

"I said I'd get you in," Griphook said clutching the sword, a nasty jeer on his face, "I didn't say anything about getting you out!"

With that, he yanked up Ricbert's hand and pressed it against the vault. The two goblins slipped out and Harry quickly thundered out after them, Pansy drawing her wand and following suit.

"GRIPHOOK!" Harry shouted, chasing the goblin down. They ran out just in time to see Griphook moving past the dragon, clankers in hand, as Ricbert stood in the middle of the room. Griphook left toward the other cavern, leaving Ricbert standing, smiling stupidly.

"I don't get it, why is he still here?" Draco breathed as the dragon inched toward the unaware goblin.

No one had enough time to answer him, because the dragon reared back and unleashed a stream of fire, incinerating Ricbert to a crisp.

"That's unfortunate," Pansy said, "I kinda liked that idiot."

"Look out!" Harry shoved them aside as a team of goblins and guards entered the cavern, throwing curses at them.

"We can't just stand here!" Hermione cried from where they were taking cover.

"You're the smart one, think of something!" Pansy snapped at her.

"I've got something, but it's mad," Hermione admitted, giving a rueful laugh. Pansy exchanged a look with her, and they both nodded.

"Reducto!" Hermione cried out as she brought down an outcropping of rock, temporarily alleviating the attacks. Running forward with Pansy at her heels, Hermione leapt onto the back of the dragon, holding onto his spiny back. Pansy hesitated briefly, but followed suit, scraping her hands raw as she danged from it's back.

This angered the dragon, and he began unleashing a stream of fire around the cavern, forcing their assailants to retreat behind stone columns.

"It's blind!" Pansy said in surprised as she got a closer look at the beast's milky eyes.

"Come on then!" Hermione shouted at Draco and Harry, who were standing frozen, gaping up at them. They both ran toward them and leapt at the dragon, hanging on as well as Hermione pulled herself up to sit atop it's back and reached down to pull Pansy up as well.

Once seated, she tried to help Harry up.

"Reducto!" Hermione pointed her wand at the chains, which broke, releasing the dragon. Urging it onwards with minor stinging hexes, the dragon began to crawl upwards toward the stop of the cavern, scaling the rocky walls. The four of them held on for dear life, blocking curses.

They were reaching the top quickly, and the dragon could sense fresh air was near.

"Hermione what do we-" Draco's anxious worrying was too late, the dragon burst throw the top of the cavern and Pansy cast a quick shield charm to protect them from the falling debris.

The dragon was literally climbing through the floor of the main hall in the bank, goblins screaming and scattering. The dragon was knocking into the walls, smashing the counters as he sought a way out, unleashing bursts of fire that caught slow moving goblins.

Pansy looked up to see a large domed glass skylight and quickly fired a charm at it, smashing it. Sensing the source of air, the dragon threw itself upwards toward it and she quickly cast another shield charm to protect them from the glass and it climbed onto the roof.

Scrambling atop the tiled roof, the dragon leaned its head back and took deep breaths of air, pausing.

"Now what?" Draco cried as it sat on the roof. Hermione turned and quickly fired a small stinging hex at the dragon's tail, urging it to take flight in fear.

"HOLD ON!" Draco shouted and they all clutched the sharp spines as the Dragon pushed itself clumsily into the air, smacking a few rooftops and chimneys in the process.

They were airborne of Diagon Alley.

"That was brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Draco praised Hermione as they soared over the building, heading out towards open country.

* * *

They were trapped atop the dragon's back for hours, watching the day go by, too scared to try apparating off its back and too high up to jump. Pansy's hands and arms were raw from the scales and spines, as were the others, and her arms screamed in protest, she was incredibly relieved when Draco helped her into a better position.

After many hours, they were soaring across a large blue lake, getting closer and closer to the surface, just as the sun was dropping low in the sky.

"We're dropping!" Draco warned. "I say we jump!"

"When?" Hermione called over the wind.

"Now!" Harry shouted and they all released their hold on the dragon, plummeting toward the water.

"I can't swim!" Pansy shrieked just as they were hitting the water. At once, water engulfed her and she cried out, water choking her throat. She struggled beneath the water as she sank, screaming, though everything was gurgled. She felt like she was under forever, and she could see something near her, thrashing around as well.

Hands finally wrapped around her waist, tugging her upwards, and she surfaced, Harry holding her.

"You really jumped even though you couldn't swim?" He gasped, holding her up.

She sent him a shaky smile. "I told you I'd follow you anywhere, fearless leader, I always trust you."

He grinned at her and ruffled her wet hair. Hermione and Draco were gasping for breath, treading water a few feet from them.

"Harry…" Hermione frowned at him, disapproval on her face. "You have that look. Did you-oh Harry you didn't!"

"He knows," Harry said, sputtering on water as he dragged Pansy behind him, pulling them to shore. "You-know-who, He knows we broke into Gringotts, He knows what we took, He knows we're hunting horcruxes!"

They began climbing up the rocks toward land.

"How do you know?" Pansy called up to him.

"I saw it," Harry murmured to her.

Hermione was still angry with him. "You let Him in! Harry you can't do that!"

"Hermione I can't always help it!" Harry shot back as they climbed a grassy knoll.

"Never mind that!" Draco waved his hand, "what happened?" Pansy was curious about how exactly Potter knew what The Dark Lord was thinking, but decided to save that question for later.

"Well, He's angry—and scared too! He knows that if we find and destroy all the horcruxes we'll be able to kill Him!"

"Good!" Pansy growled, a look of bloodthirsty glee on her face. "Just how we want Him, trembling in His snakeskin boots!"

"No, not good!" Harry told her slowly, as if talking to a child. "I reckon He'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest.

"If it's a fight He wants, it's a fight He'll get," Pansy promised, "I told ya Potter, I got your back."

Harry gave her a quick nod of thanks before continuing. Draco, Harry, and Hermione were undressing to change into fresh dry clothes that Hermione had packed for them in her little beaded bag. Pansy simply waved a drying and warming charm over herself. "There's more, one of the horcruxes is at Hogwarts."

"Are you sure? You saw it?" Hermione pressed, stopping to stare at him.

"I saw it in the castle!" Harry insisted. "And Rowena Ravenclaw, it must have something to do with her. We have to go there now!"

"WHAT! We can't do that! We've got to plan, we've got to figure it out-" Hermione protested, wringing her hands.

"No time! Hermione, when have our plans actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks lose!" Harry snapped as he pulled on a dry shirt.

"I agree, no plans, let's get in there and get it before He does," Pansy nodded.

"They're right," Draco agreed. "But there is one problem: Snape is headmaster now, we can't just go traipsing through the front door!"

"Sure we can," Pansy chuckled and everyone ignored her. She crossed her arms, frowning. This was her chance to get even, and they were so close! She had caught a taste of victory and she wanted _more_.

"We'll go through Hogsmeade, to Honeydukes, take the secret passageway in the cellar," Harry said. Draco and Pansy raised eyebrows at that.

"Secret passageway?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Damn, now I know I was on the wrong side!" Pansy groaned. "To think we missed out on all the good stuff!"

"That's really what you're hung up on right now?" Hermione turned to glare at her. "Missed opportunities for sneaking out?"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Pansy shook a finger at the girl. "Don't act all prim and proper now, I know the secret: miss do-gooder Hermione Granger used to sneak out of school with the rest of the troublemakers!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, fighting a smile, tugging on her jacket.

"Well, let's get this show on the road!" Pansy clapped her hands together.

"You're entirely too excited for this," Harry shook his head at her and she shrugged at him.

"Alright," Hermione said and tucked her little bag into her jacket pocket. "I guess it's now or never."

They all grabbed hands and were sucked into apparition, landing in Hogsmeade.

Immediately sirens began wailing.

"For the record, I wasn't asked to foresee this," Pansy said.

* * *

AN: And there we have it, the end of part two! Thank you everyone for sticking with me, and now, the real fun can begin!


	21. Chapter 21

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-One.

* * *

AN: Sorry for going MIA, I had examinations. Anywhats, I'm back and here to give you chapter 21. I dubbed the entire story "Dark Places", but in my head I still tend to refer to part one as 'Dark Places' part two as 'Gray Places', and part three as 'Hard Places'.

* * *

Sirens were wailing and Harry was cursing loudly. Draco reached out and yanked her behind a barrel, Harry and Hermione crouched beside them.

"For the record, I wasn't asked to foresee this," Pansy said to no one in particular. Draco shot her his haughtiest look he could muster. "Must be the caterwauling charm," she added after a minute.

"Can you fix this or are you just here to make observations?" Hermione hissed at her as she dug into her bag and pulled out the cloak, throwing it over Harry. They could hear voices shouting "POTTER!" down the street.

"Well yeah if we have time to stand here for a few minutes, or I dunno, we could maybe run and hide?" Pansy grumbled. Hermione opened her mouth to retort back but let out a frightened grasp. Pansy looked up questioningly but then shrank back as well. A rotting mist was descending around them as three floating figures in black cloaks hovered before them.

No one could move and they were slowly sinking further toward the ground, wide eyes as they drew nearer. Pansy couldn't even scream as she saw one, so close to Draco's face, sucking the life from him.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry gasped and pointed his wand, a burst of silver light careening from the tip. Pansy sat up as a galloping silver stag stabbed at the Dementors, forcing them down the street.

"Good thing we have you here, eh Potter?" Draco gave a weak grin, but she could tell he was rather gray in the face.

"Thanks, but they'll recognize my patronus, we have to move," Harry sighed.

He grabbed her hand and dragged her after them as they began running, Draco and Hermione behind them.

They found an open air covered eating area outside a bakery and ducked under the covered tables.

Just as the tablecloth flaps were dropping down around her, she could hear footsteps approaching.

The _thwap thwap_ of table cloths being jerked around them made her heart pound, and she clutched her wand tightly, waiting to spring out at them.

She felt one standing at her table and she bit her lip to keep from breathing, but was saved when the caterwaul began screeching again and she heard the footsteps run toward it.

"POTTER!" The Death Eaters roared in the streets.

Someone grabbed her by the ankle and she yelped before realizing it was Draco. He physically dragged her out from under the table by her ankle and she wanted to sock him, but Hermione was pulling her to her feet and they were racing after Harry.

Running down an alley between shops and houses, they could hear the shouting men closing in around them.

She smashed into the back of Hermione and fell back a few steps. They were at a dead end, a gate blocking their escape.

"Here-" Pansy lifted her wand to blast the gate aside but was stopped when a door to their left opened.

"Potter, in here," a voice rumbled. Looking at each of them, Harry seemed to be deliberating. Hermione shook her head no and Pansy nodded yes at the same time. Draco was the one who made the decision for him and grabbed Harry by the jacket and hauled him inside, Hermione and Pansy scrambling in after them.

They followed down a set of narrow stairs into the basement of the business.

"Did you get a good look at him?" Draco asked from where he had moved behind her, his breath tickling her ear, "It looked like…"

"I know, like Dumbledore," she breathed back.

"It's the Hog's Head," Hermione told them over her shoulder. Pansy blinked and nodded, she knew of the grungy pub and inn on the edge of town, no one from her crowd had ever come here that she knew of.

The man in question told them roughly to stay where they were and went back up the stairs. She could hear him arguing with a pair of Death Eaters at the door.

"That wasn't a bloody stag, that was a goat you idiots!" The man cried at them. "I don't care about a curfew! I went to let out my cat and tripped the alarm and those nasty things came swooping down on my pub! It's my right to defend my home!"

More arguing. Pansy turned her attention away from it, as she could tell the man was winning and would be coming back down shortly. Hermione was gazing at a portrait of a young girl beside the fireplace. Harry and Draco were sitting on a bench, staring at the floor, waiting for the owner of the grubby pub to come back down. Harry had something reflective in his hands.

Hermione called over to Harry to show him something, but Pansy was turning her head toward the slamming door and footsteps on the stairs, distracted.

"You're a bunch of bloody fools!" The man announced at them as he entered the basement. "What were you thinking, coming here, of all places?"

Pansy snarled and lifted her wand, but Harry stopped her with his arm before turning to address the man. She huffed, crossing her arms, and went to go sit beside Draco.

"Are you Aberforth?" Harry asked him calmly. "Dumbledore's brother?"

That tidbit caught Pansy's attention and she perked up, fascinated and curious. It made so much sense, looking at the old man with the long beard, she could catch the resemblance.

The man turned away from Harry.

"It's you I've been seeing, you're the one that sent Dobby," Harry nodded his head knowingly.

"Come again?" Pansy looked to Hermione, confused. The girl just mouthed " _later"_ to her and Pansy nodded, appeased.

Harry and Aberforth went back and forth on things that Pansy didn't understand, something about a mirror and someone named Dung (what an awful name) and help. She supposed she would have to wait until later, whenever that was, to piece everything together.

Draco beside her seemed bored and tense at the same time, clearly not following the conversation either.

She began running counter-curses and hexes in her head, because a prickling sensation on the back of her neck was warning her that there would probably be a fight quite soon.

Aberforth disappeared back upstairs and returned with some bread and drinks, and they immediately snatched everything up, dehydrated and starving.

"Have you heard anything new from the Order?" Hermione asked him in between sips of water.

"The Order is finished, you-know-who has won," the old man grumbled.

Pansy cocked her head at him. "You're not a cheerful one, are you?" He sent her a hard glare and Hermione shook her head at her. "What? I'm just saying, he's not as goofy as Dumbledore was, no rollerblades."

"It's true," Aberforth ignored her. "The war is over, anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves."

"That may be, but we need to get into Hogwarts tonight," Harry told him. "Dumbledore gave us a job to do."

Aberforth glanced at him from where he was refilling the cups of water with his wand. "Did he now? Nice job, I hope? Pleasant?" No one answered him. "Easy? Sort of thing you'd expect an unqualified wizard kid to be able to do without over-stretching themselves?"

Harry ran his hands through his hair, uncomfortable, "I…it's not easy, no. But I've got to —"

"Got to? You think you have to listen to him? He's dead, isn't he? Let it go, boy, before you follow him! Save yourself!" Aberforth waved his explanation away.

"We've been hunting Horcruxes," Hermione tried. "We think we've found the last one, at Hogwarts, but we need your help getting in."

"The job my brother's given you is a suicide mission," Aberforth told her, shaking his head as if she were a silly school girl. Pansy wanted to inform whom exactly he was talking to, which was the smartest witch of their age, Granger was.

Harry and Aberforth fought some more and Pansy sighed loudly, but they ignored her again.

"By the time we get anywhere with this conversation, we'll be old as him," she muttered to Hermione who shrugged.

"I trusted the man I knew," Harry snapped at the old man. "We need to get into the castle tonight."

Aberforth sighed and in that moment he looked incredibly ancient. He turned to the portrait of the girl and murmured, "you know what to do."

The young girl smirked and turned, walking away and out of sight inside the portrait.

"Where have you sent her?" Draco asked him.

"You'll see," the old man replied. He moved toward the stairs, leaving them. Hermione stopped him.

"That's your sister, Ariana, isn't it? She died very young, didn't she?"

"My brother sacrificed many things, Mr. Potter," Aberforth said slowly. "To find power, including Ariana, and she was devoted to him. He gave her everything, but time."

"Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore," Hermione stopped him as Harry looked visibly upset.

"Got a big chip on his shoulder, doesn't he?" Pansy said, trying to fill the silence after the man had left.

"He did save our lives twice!" Hermione protested. Pansy shrugged.

"I'm just saying, that doesn't seem like somebody who has given up," she said quietly. Pansy and Draco met eyes and a look of understanding passed between them.

"She's coming back," Hermione pointed to the portrait.

"Who does she have with her?" Draco peered closer as they watched two figures moving down the painted lane in the landscape of the portrait.

The portrait swung open like a door to reveal Neville Longbottom, standing in a passageway behind the frame.

"Neville!" Harry greeted the Gryffindor boy. "It's good to see you!"

"I look like hell, I reckon," Neville leaned against the frame, grinning at them. "Seamus is worse." The boy turned to look at Pansy and Draco and his narrowed. Pansy thought he looked…a lot easier on the eyes now, compared to the dumpy cowardly boy she had known before.

"I have a lot to tell you, Harry, and it looks you have a lot to fill me in on, too," He said finally after a moment of silence as he took in the two Slytherins. "Come on then."

They followed his lead and entered the tunnel, the portrait closing behind them.

"I never knew this was here!" Harry told him as he walked alongside Neville. Neville informed him that the Room of Requirement had created it for them to use that year.

"The grounds are crawling with Death Eaters and Dementors," Neville said and glanced back at Draco as he said it.

"How bad is it with Snape as Head Master?" Hermione asked him, she put a hand on Draco's arm to stop him from saying something.

"Hardly ever see him," Neville told her. "It's the Carrows you have to worry about."

"Carrows?"

"Yeah, brother and sister, they're in charge of Defense Against the Dark Arts and discipline."

"They always liked punishment," Pansy muttered. She knew of the two Death Eater siblings in question.

Neville informed them that they liked to make student practices dark curses on others during classes, and they too seemed to favor the cruciatus.

"Hogwarts has changed," Neville murmured as the got to the end of the tunnel, standing before a door.

Pansy braced herself as the Gryffindor boy pushed open the door, a burst of light penetrating the dark tunnel.

* * *

AN: Rollerblades. I saw it on tumblr, and I wanted it to be a thing. I believe in this thing.


	22. Chapter 22

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-two.

* * *

Hogwarts. Pansy.

* * *

"HARRY! _It's Potter,_ it's POTTER!" Voices were shouting with joy and students jostled to get near the boy who lived, and upon seeing Hermione, they began screaming her name, too.

Pansy found herself slinking toward the corner, Draco taking her cue, and she made herself as small as possible. Already people were noticing them and whispers were replacing celebratory cheers.

"Is that Malfoy and Parkinson?"

"Why're they here, Potter?"

"Where's Ron?"

Hermione was getting visibly upset at all the questions about Ron, and finally Harry held up his hand.

"It's good to see everybody, we're sorry for just barging in," He began, ever the diplomat. "Ron…well you've noticed he isn't here. Unfortunately…Ron was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange a few weeks ago," he paused and looked at the ground, his hands in his pockets. "He died fighting, he died a hero."

Several people were nodding, and Pansy noticed the Lavender Brown harpy was crying beside Parvati Patil. _Gryffindors._

"What about them?" Someone was pointing at her and Draco and she stiffened before drawing herself up, jutting her chin out at them. Draco placed a firm hand on her bicep, holding her in place.

"Pansy and Draco are my friends," Harry said firmly. "Without them, Hermione and I wouldn't be here today, we owe a lot to them."

Hermione nodded and stepped closer to Pansy, taking her hand in a very surprising act of affection that startled her, but Pansy squeezed her hand back anyway.

"Yeah that's all fine and nice, but can we trust 'em, Harry?" Seamus Finnegan called out. "Are we supposed to forget what a prick Malfoy was, or that Parkinson was a raging bit-"

Draco held up a hand, stepping out into the center of the room. "Pansy and I had to do things in school that we didn't always have a choice in, because there were people whispering in our ears, telling us to do things or else our whole family would be murdered." His voice was steady, brave, Pansy thought.

Several people were nodding or looking at the floor.

"He was in our heads," Draco tapped his temple solemnly and she nodded. "We didn't always have a choice, it was scary, and I admit, we were assholes to you all a lot of the time— a majority of the time, and I speak for both of us now by saying sorry. Truly."

Pansy thought he was very good at speaking to crowds, something she had never noticed before.

Everyone was looking to her to add something, and Harry shot her a look, a silent plea to be nice.

"We aren't asking you to forgive us," she said suddenly. Harry winced and subtly shook his head at her. _Try again_. "What I mean is, Harry and Hermione, and some of the Weasley's have already forgiven us. We know we were horrible here at school, and Draco explained why we were the way we were, but we are also horrible spoiled brats, as I'm sure you know as well."

Several people laughed.

"We don't need your forgiveness, it's not going to stop us from helping Harry until the very end," she frowned, "but if you would give it to us, your forgiveness, we would welcome it… warmly."

Several people nodded and a few Gryffindor boys clapped Draco on the back. _Leave it to the Gryffindors to follow their leader's judgment without question_ , she thought before realizing she could say the same about the Death Eaters.

"Right," Harry said breaking up some of the chatter. "The four of us are here because we are looking for something,"

He was interrupted as people noticed that someone else was coming through the secret passageway beside Ariana. The portrait swung open and out came Fred and George Weasley, behind them Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood, looking much healthier.

Another uproar of celebration, apparently Dean and Luna had disappeared off the Hogwarts Express during Easter break.

"Parkinson," Fred greeted her, appearing at her side.

"How is our favorite co-contributor?" George grinned on her other side.

"It's good to see you two hooligans," Pansy gave them a genuine grin. She noticed they were loaded up with rucksacks and duffle bags. "did you bring me some treats to play with?" She waggled her eyebrows at them.

"Thanks to you we managed to perfect most of our…treats," Fred chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"and we made some new ones that we know you are just going to love!" George added.

"I can't wait to see," she rubbed her hands together gleefully.

"Harry."

She glanced up to see Ginny Weasley standing there, a look of surprise and affection in her eyes.

"Hi," Harry breathed, his cheeks flushing, he suddenly looked all flustered. She watched the two embrace, and Pansy remembered the two had been a thing before. Interesting.

"Haven't seen her in weeks and it's all about Harry!" Fred grumbled to her.

"Hey little sister nice to see you, too!" George called out to Ginny, who rolled her eyes at him.

"Shut it you lot!" Neville silenced the room. "I called more members of the D.A. and I told Abe they're on their way. It's time for everyone to return to Hogwarts to fight and we need to help Harry find whatever it is he needs!"

"What are you looking for?" Ginny pulled back from Harry, her voice carrying over the quiet crowd.

"Right, we're looking for these things, artifacts really that can help us defeat You-know-who once and for all," Harry explained. "We think it's something important to Rowena Ravenclaw, an artifact or talisman sort of thing."

Whispers started erupting. Harry looked toward Luna and Cho Chang, who were standing near some other Ravenclaw's.

"D'you know of anything like that?" He asked them.

"Well there is the lost diadem," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice, Pansy heard a few people in the back of the crowd snicker at the girl and she whipped her head around toward them angrily.

"Let her talk!" She snarled toward them and they shut up.

"You haven't heard of it? It's quite famous actually," Luna explained, ignoring the laughter and Pansy's outburst.

"Yeah but that's just the thing Luna, it's lost, no one has seen it in centuries," Cho told the blonde girl patiently. Pansy flicked her attention to Cho, the seeker for Ravenclaw and ex-girlfriend to the Hufflepuff boy who died in their fourth year.

Harry seemed to be deliberating over that information.

"There's a stature of Rowena Ravenclaw in our common room," Luna offered. "I could take you there, and you could see what it looks like."

"Yeah, that might help," Harry said after looking to Hermione who nodded.

"Just you go with her, Harry," Hermione said. "You both can fit under the cloak that way."

Harry nodded, but looked uncertain.

"Go ahead, Harry," Pansy told him patiently. "I'm going to help the Twins set up their stuff, and I'm sure Draco and Hermione have some textbooks they want to consult. We'll meet back up with you after."

Harry agreed and took hold of Luna, taking the cloak from Hermione, and leaving the room. Students began breaking up into groups, pulling on jackets, lacing their boots, and beginning to practice defensive maneuvers. It was going unsaid that a fight was probably to be had that night.

Hermione and Draco drifted off into the corner and began consulting Hogwarts: A History.

She sat in another corner with the twins on the floor, opening up their bags and looking at the contents inside.

"What's this?" She asked, holding up a container of black powder.

"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," George told her as he began filling a yellow box with different powders. Pansy briefly wondered if they should be handling explosives in a room full of school children, but the twins didn't seem to think anything of it and she wasn't in the position to really ask questions.

"Interesting, what's it do?"

"If you toss a pinch in the air, it'll make the whole room black and smoky, impossible to see anything," Fred replied from where he was working as well.

"Fascinating," Pansy murmured. "Mind if I..?" She went to look for an empty box, but George was already handing her one, obviously knowing what she was wanting.

"Thanks," she murmured and began measuring out the ingredients she had whirling in her mind, her creative process taking over. She wasn't as good with potions as Draco and Hermione, Draco was brilliant enough to be a prodigy, but she could still keep up with the rest of them.

Pansy was no slouch.

* * *

Minutes went by and the energy was picking up, Pansy was finished with her experiments as was the twins, and they were talking with another boy, Lee Jordan, a few feet away.

A rabbit patronus appeared in the center of the room, and it was Luna's dreamy voice that came from it.

" _Professor McGonagall is requesting us all to gather in the Great Hall. Hurry along. Snape has fled the castle."_

"It's show time, boys," Pansy brushed her pants off and picked up a knapsack, slinging it over her shoulder.

"P, come on," Draco was calling to her from where he was waiting with Hermione by the door as the rest of the students flooded around them out the door.

"We're coming," she said and followed after them, the twins and Lee right behind her.

The corridors were a madhouse as the rest of the Hogwarts student body was charging toward the Great Hall, people shouting in fear and excitement.

Entering the Great Hall, she noticed all the long tables where they used to eat were pushed to the side. She slipped through gaps between students, seeking out Hermione, Draco, Luna, and Harry.

"Hogwarts is under attack!" McGonagall was shouting down to the students and staff gathered. "Those of you who are underage will be evacuated, those who are of age may stay and fight if they so choose."

Several students were crying.

A small girl, maybe a second year, began screaming beside her. Pansy turned to tell her to shut up, before a girl a few feet away began to as well, clutching her ears. Several more girls began shrieking.

A voice penetrated their ears.

It was Him.

" _I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts,"_ He warned.

Pansy heard the blood rushing toward her ears, her knees giving out, as panic began setting in at the sound of his voice in her head. Several other people were having the same reaction, Draco and Harry were both huddled on the ground, visibly shaking.

" _I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and they shall not be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight._ "

All hell broke loose.

Pansy, clutching her stomach, noticed that several of her old housemates were turning to look at Harry, hard expressions on their faces, and some were starting to lift their wands.

"Go on then," Pansy shouted at them, stepping in front of Harry, her wand pointed at them. "What are you waiting for? Someone grab him, and see how well it goes for you!"

Hermione, Draco, Luna, Ginny, and Neville stepped beside her, too, blocking Harry. Other students from the room of requirement filtered in behind them.

"TRAITOR!" A girl spat at her. Freya Gibbon. She had returned.

"Come here and say that again," Hermione snarled at Freya and Ginny nodded, eyes narrowed.

"Mr. Filtch," McGonagall stepped him as they all prepared to attack the Slytherins. "Please escort Miss Gibbon and the rest of the Slytherins out of the Great Hall."

"And where do I take them?" The greasy old man protested.

"I think the dungeons will do," McGonagall sniffed and Pansy smiled at her.

As the Slytherins were being led out, the doors burst open and a new group of fighters arrived. Pansy assumed this was the infamous Order of the Phoenix.

She recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt, their old DATDA professor, Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Bill, Fleur, and-

"Charlie," she breathed, her face lighting up as she saw her favorite dragon trainer. He saw her and broke into a broad grin.

"What are you waiting for?" Draco nudged her hard with his elbow. "Go hug him before he realizes you aren't the prettiest girl at Hogwarts."

She rolled her eyes but darted over to him, not slowing down and flung herself up into his arms, which he had open and waiting for her.

"Well hello," Charlie buried his face in her hair.

"Didn't get that reaction, did we Forge?" She heard a twin grumbling from behind them.

"What is with these girls lately, Gred? It's like we've gone invisible."

"Hi," she murmured and then turned red, embarrassed at her display of affection. He must have sensed her hesitance, because he let her slide down his body to stand on her own.

"Missed you," she mumbled, fiddling with a lock of hair. He just winked at her and steered her toward Bill and Fleur, who were waiting to say hello. She greeted her mentor and his wife warmly, all the while a wide smile on her face.

McGonagall and Shacklebolt began directing groups of students and Order members to different battle stations around the school.

"Heard about the break in," Bill murmured to her, "heard you French accent was spot on." He was laughing and even Fleur seemed amused.

"You should have seen my spell work, I thought it was pretty impressive," she flushed.

"I'm sure it was, and tonight will be even better practice," Bill told her, but that seemed to sober everyone up. There was a battle starting.

* * *

AN: Charlie Weasley. Sweet Mercy.

Hello to all my new followers I've managed to pick up!

Please introduce yourself, tell me what your houses/patronus/wand type is, and leave a review!


	23. Chapter 23

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-three.

AN: Multiple POV's ahead.

* * *

Pansy.

* * *

"Mr. and Mr. Weasley," McGonagall addressed Fred and George. "I would like you to accompany Mr. Longbottom to take care of a little something." The headmistress leaned in and whispered instructions to the three boys. Pansy was close enough to hear it and she grinned wistfully.

"Are you sure Professor?" Neville asked nervously. "Blow it up? Boom?"

"BOOM!" McGonagall chuckled darkly, "and consult with Mr. Finnegan, from what I recall, he has certain proclivity with pyrotechnics."

"Oh I can bring it down," Seamus Finnegan nodded confidently.

Hermione noticed Pansy's wistful expression as she watched the four boys run off.

"Pansy, if you want to go help, you certainly should," Hermione told her encouragingly. "You might be more use helping defend the school."

"You sure?" Pansy asked her, hesitating.

"Of course, you've done brilliantly up until now, but I think we can manage just fine, and if we need you, we'll send for you," Hermione put her hand on her shoulder gently.

"I don't know…what about you all?" She turned to look at Bill and Charlie.

"Pansy quit worrying and go with the twins and help them with their…stuff," Bill ordered her before turning to his brother, who looked just as uncertain. "Charlie, you come with me and Fleur, we've been assigned to the west side of the castle. Harry can manage just fine with Hermione and Draco."

Pansy nodded finally.

"You sure you don't feel left out?" Draco asked her, looking uncertain.

"'Course I am, the three of you are masters, I believe in you," she gave him a quick smile.

"Be careful," Hermione said to her and pulled her in for a quick hug, which Pansy returned.

"I will," she said, "you be careful, too."

Harry gave her a pat on the shoulder, nodding to her, and she understood what he was trying to say. She watched the three of them run off from the Great Hall.

Bill must have sensed that Charlie and Pansy needed a moment, because he turned and led Fleur a few feet away.

She turned to look at Charlie.

"Remember what you said, about it being the time to change for the better?"

He nodded.

"I think you were right."

"Pansy," Charlie touched her face as he stepped closer to her, a sad smile on his face. His eyes connected with hers, and she could see everything in them that he wasn't saying out loud.

"I know," she breathed leaning her forehead against his, their fingers intertwining for a moment. His hazel eyes were warm and she felt so incredibly safe she could cry.

She wasn't sure who made the move first, but suddenly his lips were pressed against hers and she was sighing against them, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her slightly, her legs wrapping around his waist.

Charlie let out a groan and tilted his head slightly, parting her lips, his tongue sliding into her mouth to caress hers.

The kiss was like fire, heating her up from the bottom of her belly and searing every bone in her body. Her breath was coming out in rapid huffs and their chests panted together.

She could devour him, melt into him, get lost in him, forsake everything for him…

Loud shouting broke them from their moment and she pulled back. He sighed and kissed her forehead before releasing her.

She skittered back a few feet, bit her lip, and then finally gave a small sheepish wave to him before jogging out of the Great Hall and toward the twins.

* * *

Draco.

* * *

They were running up the staircases, students and Order members all around them. He had Hermione's hand firmly in his.

Harry was searching around and then finally stopped, forcing them to jerk around him or knock him over.

"I have an idea," Harry said suddenly. "I'm going to try talking to some ghosts, see what they know."

"Brilliant," Draco nodded. He noticed Hermione had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Harry," she said slowly, her brow wrinkled as she mulled something over in her head. "We still have the cup to destroy…"

"Right," Harry said patiently. "Don't know how just yet, but yeah."

"Well, I was just thinking…I might know of something that could destroy it, and the diadem, when we find it."

"Great, what is it?"

"A basilisk fang?" Hermione murmured uncertainly. Harry stared at her for a minute, as did Draco, before nodding.

"Yeah that would work," he said. Draco wanted to protest, he wasn't sure where in the bloody hell they were supposed to find a basilisk at that hour, let alone kill it to get a fang from it. "I'll leave you both to it, then," Harry was saying as he began to walk away.

Hermione seemed to have made her mind up, because she began heading off in the opposite direction.

"Uh, Hermione, where do you propose we go about getting a fang?" Draco jogged to catch up with her.

"The Chamber of Secrets of course," Hermione called over her shoulder. "The skeleton is still down there."

"Okay…" Draco said drawing out the "a" as he struggled to understand what she was saying. "but that doesn't answer the question of how we get down there? Don't we need to, I don't know, speak Parseltongue to get in?"

"Well yes, but I suppose after hearing Harry speak it so many times that I can manage if I give it a go," she shrugged. They were reaching the first floor girl's lavatory.

"Uh, Hermione, we can't go in there, that's the girls' bathroom," He stopped at the door.

She rolled her eyes at him. "You can't be serious Draco, we're in the middle of a war and you're concerned about etiquette? Besides, no one will be in there except Moaning Myrtle."

He followed her inside, where she crouched near a sink. He watched her give a weird strangled hissing sound.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe it doesn't open anymore," he said, trying to break it to her gently that the odds of her figuring out the right word-to-hiss ratio weren't very high.

"Shut up, I'm trying to get it right," Hermione snapped. She gave it a couple more goes and just as he was about to tell her it was about time to think of a new plan, the sink slid upwards to reveal a trap door in the wall.

"HA!" Hermione cried out triumphantly, "I told you I could do it!"

"I'll never doubt you again, woman," Draco murmured as he stared incredulously at the hole in the wall.

"Good," she sniffed primly, "now come on, time is wasting."

* * *

Pansy

* * *

"Yeah, you and whose army?' Neville was taunting the snatchers standing on the other side of the magical barrier.

Pansy laughed, standing beside him. They had been tasked with planting the explosives at the furthest end, and the twins, Seamus, and Lee were waiting at the other end.

The snatchers and some death eaters were caught on the other side of the barrier, unable to get past the shield, though she knew Voldemort and his other followers were hard at work trying to break through nearby.

"Pansy! Nev! Come on!" Fred called out to them from way down at the other end. She turned to call back to him that they were coming, when she heard a snap. Turning in slow motion, she watched the blue-ish barrier began to shatter, dissolving.

"Nevil-" she warned but it was too late. Scabior was slowly stepping through where the barrier had once been, an evil snarling sneer growing on his face.

"RUN!" Neville shouted and grabbed her, whipping her around as they thundered across the wooden bridge, shouting at the twins to "BLOW IT UP!"

"SHITE!" Pansy dodged a curse that narrowly missed her, She turned and fired a curse back at their pursuants, who were gaining on them.

* * *

George

* * *

"What are you waiting for? Blow it up!" Lee was shouting at him.

"I can't yet, they have to get past the mid-section! We spaced the last two devices too closely together, and if we blow up the end, the middle will go, too!"

Pansy and Neville were running for their lives, dodging curses and firing hexes back at their chasers. He watched Pansy narrowly dodge a close call.

"George! Hurry!" Fred was shouting at him.

"Hold on…" George murmured, raising his wand slowly, waiting for the right moment, "just a little further…you can do it…that's it…" he watched as their two friends cleared the middle of the bridge. "That'll do it…"

With a quick two flicks of his wand, he watched as the farthest end of the bridge ignited in a ball of fire, the middle of the bridge beginning to collapse from the force.

The rest of the bridge was crumbling too quickly, falling underway closer and closer to where their two friends were still running, yards to go.

"HURRY! FASTER!" George shouted at them. He watched Neville turn to look over his shoulder to watch the snatchers and death eaters directly behind him, inches away, fall with the bridge.

Pansy got caught up on the splintering boards and tumbled backwards, falling over the edge, Neville tripping behind her.

"NO!"

* * *

Pansy

* * *

" _Yous has to be being very careful making pies," Effie was telling her in a reverent tone, gazing at the pie backing in the oven before them. "Yous can't be walking very far away, else yous be risking a burned up pie."_

 _She was crouched by the elf in the kitchen of the carriage house. It was Christmas break of her first year, she was eleven years old, with spindly arms and legs and a haircut that was far too mature for her age._

 _Her parents hadn't bothered to come home for the holiday._

" _Effie is thinking it is being ready," the elf was saying and opened up the oven. She levitated the pie out and set it on a cooling rack on the kitchen table._

" _It's so pretty," Pansy breathed, reaching out a hand to stroke the golden crust topping it._

" _Missy be careful-" It was too late, her hand had brushed the hot pan and she was wailing as it singed her palm._

 _Effie had smoothed a healing ointment on her hand almost immediately , holding the little girl to her._

" _Shh, it is being okay," Effie told her. "Effie is here, Effie is not ever letting go of Missy."_

She was dangling over the chasm, Neville had a firm grip on her hand, he himself was holding onto a support beam on the remaining part of the bridge.

She looked down at the far drop and let out a frightened yelp, squeezing his hand tighter.

"It's okay," Neville looked down at her, his teeth gritted with the effort of holding them both up. "I'm right here, I won't let you go."

"I-I can't," Pansy cried, "I can't do this! My hand is slipping!"

"Nonsense, just look at me," Neville ordered her. "Look in my eyes. I am not going to let you fall. Just look at me, the others are coming."

She met his eyes and held his gaze, her lips trembling and tears rolling down her dust-covered cheeks.

"That's it," Neville encouraged her, sweet running down his brow, "Just a couple of Slytherins and Gryffindors hanging out, getting to know each other. Tell me, what's your favorite color?"

"Red," she breathed, her arm muscles twitching as fought to hold her grip on his hand.

"Huh, you don't say," Neville said. "I always fancied yellow myself."

"Check it out Gred, they're making small talk," a voice said from over head.

"In the face of imminent death, his courageousness: Neville Longbottom stops to chat up damsels in distress," another voice joked in a dramatic bravado.

Fred, George, Lee, and Seamus were leaning over the edge of the bridge. Between levitating charms and good old fashioned man power, they hauled the two of them up.

"Fancy a change of scenery there, Parkinson?" Fred grinned at her, an arm slung around her shoulders.

"Y-yeah," she said shakily, "wanted to take a walk on the wild side, good thing Neville was there to remind me that we had to keep you gits out of trouble."

Neville grinned at her, ruffling her hair.

* * *

Draco

* * *

"Go on Draco, stab it," Hermione was murmuring to him. He glanced at her uncertainly, a fang clutched in his hand. "It's your turn, you can do this!"

He hesitated. This was hero work, this was something he had never seen himself doing, helping Harry and Hermione, joining the good guys.

"Draco, do this, and you'll never doubt where you stand against the dark side again," Hermione put a gentle hand on his back.

He turned and looked into her eyes. Fire whiskey. A rich amber brown, with flecks of gold.

A wave of something, understanding – no, a feeling, flowed between them.

Nodding, he took a hesitant step toward where the cup had been placed on the ground. The whole chamber was very Slytherin, murky green and black, marble. Save for the large snake skeleton few feet away, he could easily picture his classmates hanging about down there.

He stood over the cup.

Draco wondered where his parents were, if they were at the school. If they were alive.

Wondered what his father was going to say to him, if they saw each other. Could you forgive your soon for dueling you, for betraying you? He didn't know the answer to that. Could you forgive your father, who let a madman into your home and let your best friend be tortured for months on end?

He brought the fang down against the cup hard, shattering it.

A screeching sound issued from it and a wave of water rose up, surging toward them.

He scrambled back, wrapping his arms around Hermione as they fell to the ground. In the crashing waves of water was the face of Voldemort, screaming as he descended against them.

It was an illusion.

The water rained down on them, soaking them for the second time that night, and everything was quiet.

"I did it," He breathed in wonder, breathing heavily.

"Draco," Hermione said and he turned to look at her.

"I'm so proud of you," she leaned his forehead against his. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, to show her just how much he had begun to care for her, and he could see her inching toward his lips as well.

He could also see the confliction in those beautiful eyes.

Giving a deep sigh, he drew back and kissed her forehead before wrapping an arm around her, drawing her closer to him, her head against his heart.

* * *

AN: So close. Yet…not close enough. I respect the grieving process.

Also, who doesn't like a good flashback in the face of danger?

Who is your favorite HP character?


	24. Chapter 24

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-four.

* * *

Still Pansy. Still the battle of Hogwarts.

* * *

"Nice battle wound," Fred smirked at her as they made their way toward the quad, where a great deal of fighting was underway.

Pansy glanced down at her hand, which was bleeding quite a bit, scraped open from the tumble off the bridge.

"Tis but a scratch," she chuckled and cast a blot clotting charm on her palm, which stopped the bleeding.

They could hear a great deal of commotion and the sky above the quad was lit up with an endless stream of hexes.

"Brace yourselves," Neville called over his shoulder as he led them through the archway that would take them through to the courtyard. They raised their wands.

In an instant, no more than a heartbeat, they were thrust into the fight. It was almost natural, like they had been born for it, so fluidly transferring into the fray and taking up combatants.

Pansy was dueling a figure in a black cloak and mask, and she kept swiping at them to get the mask off so she could see who it was, wondering if it was a Malfoy, or worse.

"Ah, Hogwarts' resident traitorous bitch!" The muffled voice snarled at her as they flicked their wand and she narrowly avoided a Sectumsempra. "It's been too long! How was your summer?"

"I've heard worse from my own mother, you'll have to do better!" Pansy jeered through gritted teeth as she fired back.

"Oh yes, where is your mother?" The figure taunted, "Still hiding, is she? With your father? I've heard cowardice is bred in, your family is no better than a bunch of blood traitors! Pity I risked my family honor with you before!"

"I'm not the one hiding my face!" Pansy spat and she lost it. She was pulling spells that she had never practiced, never tried, unleashing ancient Latin spell roots with no regard for the potential hazard or repercussions from them.

Something hit the death eater square in the chest and she watched as his chest slowly expanded, like a balloon, his face turning blue. She briefly wondered if he would actually explode, but then suddenly his chest expanded no more and his dark eyes were blank.

His lungs must have collapsed.

She bent down and pried the mask of his face.

Blaise Zabini.

Her first kill of the night, and it just so happened to be an old childhood friend. She stared at his face blankly, briefly wondering what Daphne would say to her, if Daphne was even here?

She looked around the court yard as everyone battled around her.

Would the others be here tonight? Greg, Crabbe, Theo? What about Millie or Tracey? She could argue with her conscience all day and night that Blaise would have killed her first if he could have, but could she keep saying that about Greg and Millie?

When did it finally become too sad? Too lonely? Too sickening?

Suddenly she didn't know if she completely blamed the Slytherin students from earlier, the ones who had been ready to hand Harry over. The ones who were sent to the dungeons to wait out the battle.

Did no one realize that some of these students had family and friends on the other side? That, to betray Voldemort and join the Harry, was to say they would be comfortable with battling their own parents?

She never signed up for killing Blaise. Not ever.

Pansy couldn't even deny the fact that if she had seen him without the mask, she wouldn't have even attempted at killing him.

So did that make her a bad guy again?

A crashing sound broke her thoughts and she looked up. Bodies had fallen from a balcony and Fenrir Greyback lunged forward to sink his teeth into one. She swallowed back her revulsion and quickly hexed him off of the body.

Screaming called her attention again and she turned in horror as giant spiders scaled the courtyard walls, leaping at both fighting sides below. The ground was rumbling and she could see giants approaching.

Statues, spelled into animation, were fighting alongside the order, and when losing, lay crumbled into rubble beneath their fight, sprinkled in puddles of blood and sick.

Who were the bad guys here? Who were the good guys? Was the light truly good, and was the dark truly and eternally bound to evil?

A giant fell, crushing bodies and she lurched away. Someone cast a hex so ancient she had never dreamed of trying it, and she watched as the stonework beneath her feet gave way, splitting and tearing apart, leaving a deep burning chasm below.

She continued standing, staring at the battle around her. Something hit her shoulder, a rebound from a muscle burning hex, and she clutched her arm.

No one was using the "safe" or "basic" defensive maneuvers they had all learned in school. Ancient spells, homemade curses, and Unforgiveables were only welcome here.

The court yard was divided by the chasm, and both sides were trying to retreat.

"Pansy!" George called to her and she looked to spot him through the smoke and dust. He was on the other side with Fred and Neville. "Get out of here, we're falling back! Meet us! Seventh floor corridor!"

Someone fell into her and she wrestled away, terrified that it was a death eater, but froze when she realized it was a statue that had been defeated.

Getting to her feet, she nodded her head to the twins, hoped they saw her, and she made a run for the corridor that would gain her entrance to the school.

Running through the front hall of the school, she looked frantically for Bill or Charlie, but found no one. She wondered where Harry and Draco and Hermione were, if they were safe, if they needed her?

If they were as sickened by this battle as she was?

Taking the stairs two at a time, she passed Peeves, who was unleashing bricks on the death eaters fighting below.

A staircase had crumbled, so she resigned to going across third floor toward the back stair well to go the rest of the way up.

Pansy darted down the seemingly deserted corridor, her boots thudding across the rubble and, horrifyingly, blood.

The large knapsack she had on her back thumped against her shoulders in time with her rapid-beating heart.

Screams were constantly puncturing the air in a deadly staccato and the green and red colored flashes illuminated the windows.

A curse had knocked most of the torches on the walls out, leaving an eerie glow that had Pansy running faster towards the stairs.

A large thunderous boom shook the walls of the castle followed by more screams and Pansy let out of a growl.

 _Just a few more yards_ , she told herself, seeking out the archway that would lead to the stairwell.

Movement ahead in the dust and smoky din had her throwing herself behind a tapestry instantly.

Peering out, she saw three floating Dementors in swirling black cloaks enter the corridor from a broken window the rotting stench of death and decaying flesh filling her nostrils and making her gag.

She tried to hold her breath, casting a quick notice-me-not charm and hoping that would be enough, but she could hear her hammering heart in her ears as her pulse roared.

She slid further behind the tapestry and didn't move a muscle, closing her eyes tightly. There was a jerk of movement behind her eyelids and she opened her eyes to see the tapestry yanked back and a Dementor hovering before her.

She screamed silently as it closed in on her, holding her in it's eyeless gaze as it sucked in at her, forcing a chill of despair over her as she felt her energy draining.

 _Everything is lost, there is nothing left_ Pansy thought as she felt her breathing freeze inside her lungs. Her body was slowly sliding down the wall to the floor. She closed her eyes tightly, her muscles turning to mush.

A blinding bright light erupted and forced her eyelids open as she slammed against the floor, looking up to see a beam of light hit the Dementor full in the chest, causing it to retreat several feet.

She looked up to see Draco standing over her, his lips set in a grim line.

"Get up quickly, I managed to produce some light, but I don't think it will be enough," he told her and held an arm out to her, pulling her to her feet.

She stood on shaking legs as the three Dementors closed back in around them and she raised her own wand.

"Draco…" she breathed, "what do we do?" Her best friend didn't answer, his eyes wide and unblinking, a deer caught in headlights, frozen.

"DRACO!" She smacked him, but he was motionless as a Dementor leaned toward him.

Pansy raised her wand, and squeezed her eyes shut. _Think, Pansy, think_ , she urged herself, and she dove through her memories, trying to find something, anything. She remembered watching Hermione cast the spell, not even a day ago.

There!

A moment played into her head, and she felt her heart beat steadier:

 _It was evening and she was sitting by the ocean with Charlie, watching the sunset paint the water brilliant shades of pink and gold. He teased her over something stupid, and she had thrown back her head in laughter, his hand resting on her knee. She hadn't been Pansy Parkinson, pure-blood snob, she had been-_

"Just Pansy," she breathed, and a cry of "EXPECTO PATRONUM" ripped from her lips and she opened her eyes as another flash of bright silver light illuminated from her own wand, and to her shock, took the form of a large bird.

The bird stabbed at the Dementor hovering over Draco with its beak, before soaring toward the other two cloaked creatures. The bird's wings beat against them, forcing the foul creatures out of the broken windows and into the shelter of the night sky.

Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks as the giant bird lazily swooped back toward her, and she reached out tentatively to touch it, feeling nothing but deliciously cool swirling mist.

"What is it?" Draco murmured, wonder in his eyes, as he too stared at her patronus.

"I think it's a heron," Pansy whispered, a smile on her lips as she wiped at a tear, "a water bird."

Draco and Pansy stood in the small bubble of peace, examining the winged creature that stood before them on one leg, the other leg tucked up against it, preening it's feathers.

A scream shattered the moment and the heron dissolved back into the dusty air, gone.

"Glad you were here," she said quickly, and Draco gave a nod as he began to jog away toward the stairs.

"I got separated from Harry and Hermione, we were heading toward The Room of Requirement, I have to get there, now," he said.

"I'll come with you," she called after him and he stopped and waited for her, I'm supposed to meet the twins back on the seventh floor, too," she murmured and he gave another nod before continuing on.

They made their way down the rest of the corridor, hesitantly, and were relieved when they found that nothing else was there. Racing up the last few floors, they entered the corridor a bit clumsily.

Hermione and Harry were waiting outside the room.

"We had to clear everyone out," Hermione explained as she let them catch their breath. "Harry remembers where the diadem is, it's in the room with all the junk."

"I saw it there last year, I wish I would have realized what it was," Harry mumbled.

"Well, let's get to it," Draco straightened up from where he was bent at his knees, his face red, bruised, and dusty.

"Are you coming in with us?" Hermione asked Pansy, casually as if asking her if she were joining them for lunch during a Hogsmeade weekend.

"I was supposed to meet the twins, but I don't think they made it up here yet," she said mulling it over, "I guess I can spare a few minutes while I wait for them."

Hermione nodded and they watched as Harry paced in front of the room, asking it to change.

Entering, they took in the room that held towering stacks of everything imaginable. Old brooms, forbidden books, furniture, cauldrons, stuffed animals, and so on.

"Right," Harry assessed the situation, "should we split up? I put the diadem on the bust of an old wizard, with a blonde curly wig."

"That where you practiced your snogging, Potter?" Draco quirked and the two boys punched each other for a moment, as friends were prone to do.

"Come on Draco," Pansy broke them up, "You come with me, because as I recall, you've spent some time in here before."

He frowned at that, but nodded.

"Send up red sparks when you find it," Hermione instructed them, and they nodded before taking off down a narrow, dusty isle.

Scanning a pile of broken chairs and luggage, she hummed quietly, glad to be in the peace of the junk room for a few moments. Draco was further ahead, moving aside sheets and curtains to peer beneath them.

"Malfoy, Parkinson, fancy seeing you here," a voice drawled and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Turning, she came face to face with Theodore Nott, Greg Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe. She sensed Draco moving slowly toward her.

Pansy swore loudly.

* * *

AN: Things are about to get dicey.

Also, my patronus is a heron, too.

What's yours?


	25. Chapter 25

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-five.

* * *

Pansy continued...

The Room of Requirement

* * *

"Fancy seeing the two of you in a place like this," Theo sneered cruelly. Pansy flinched at his tone. Theo was always reserved, moody, but this tone…they had been _friends._

Draco was nearly pressed up to her from behind.

"What can we do for you boys?" Pansy asked calmly, though inside she was screaming. She feigned nonchalance, as if they were discussing evening plans or school gossip.

"P," Greg mumbled and she glanced at him quickly, her shoulders slumping. "Save the joking for later."

She gazed at her friend. Greg had always been her favorite. He was stable, reliable, loyal…

"I'm sorry I missed your wedding," she blurted and he stiffened, turning red and looking away from her, uncomfortable. "All of you."

"No one missed you," Crabbe snapped at her. "We don't tolerate traitors anymore. The Dark Lord rewards us for our loyalty, we are his favorites now."

"That's a lot of words for someone with very little intelligence," Draco retorted, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "I would watch your tone, if I were you."

"You don't scare me anymore, Malfoy," Crabbe sneered, his dopey eyes surprisingly harsh. "We don't answer to you anymore, we don't answer to no one! The Dark Lord has promised us power, you never let us have anything!"

Theo snarled at that, agreeing. Greg had his hands shoved in his pockets and seemed to be slowly shrinking back.

"Well this has been fun," Pansy edged, taking a step back, forcing Draco to do the same. "but, we had better get going…"

"Drop your wands!" Crabbe ordered them, and Pansy realized they were outnumbered. Draco sighed with irritation and Pansy knew they were stuck. They both had been too relaxed and had left their wands hang limp at their sides. She dropped hers with a clatter, as did Draco. She cursed herself for being so stupid.

"That's it," Theo said grinning. "Now, what is this diadem you were talking about in the hall?" He held them at wand point all the while. Greg was unmoving, not looking at them.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Pansy mumbled.

"We heard you talking about the di-dum," Vinny insisted. "Tell us where it is." He flicked his stubby wand out and brought a pile of junk down behind them, blocking their exit.

"Is there a problem here?" A voice broke the tension. Harry was standing there, wand pointed at Theo.

"Potter! CRUCIO!" Crabbe roared and fired the curse, which Harry deflected. Immediately the two began dueling; Harry was as usual controlled and calculated, but she noticed that Crabbe seemed rather unhinged. He began firing the killing curse at random, with no regard as to where it hit.

Theo turned from Draco and Pansy, trying to stop Crabbe. "STOP! The Dark Lord wants him alive!"

Hermione darted out, her wand pointed, as she moved to crouch beside Harry, who had ducked behind a large trunk when Crabbe was distracted.

"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" Crabbed pushed Theo aside, wrestling for a moment, "but if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff — ?"

He turned back toward Harry and noticed Hermione.

"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!"

"PROTEGO!" Pansy had her wand back in hand and quickly cast the shield charm that would protect Harry and Hermione. She tackled Draco the ground to protect him from the rebound as well.

Unfortunately, it hit Theo, who was unprepared.

She watched in horror as the boy fell to the ground. Dead.

"Theo!" Crabbe roared. "STUPID TRAITOROUS BITCH!" He held his wand up and a wave of fire came down on the pile of junk blocking their exit. She rolled to the side, barely missing the blaze.

"LIKE IT HOT, SCUM?" Crabbe jeered as the fire grew, consuming every piece of junk in sight. He raised his wand to curse her and Harry struck.

"STUPEFY!"

Crabbe was hit. from behind, which brought him down hard. He lay there, nose crushed, unmoving.

The fire was climbing the wall of junk rapidly, almost consciously, and growing.

Greg bent and began dragging the unconscious man away from the fire as they all retreated.

"He set the whole bloody room on fire!" Draco cried tried to stop it with the auquamenti charm, which gave no luck.

"Fiendfyre," she told Hermione, who frowned. "We can't stop it."

"Get the diadem now," Hermione snapped at Harry, who took off running.

Pansy turned to face Greg.

"Get out of here," she snarled at him.

"P," He reached out a hand to her, "I didn't mean for this…" He grasped in the air, fighting to find the words.

"We were all friends," she hissed at him, "I never forgot that, but apparently you all did."

"You are my friend," he told her quietly.

"If that is so, then take my warning and get out," she said coldly. "You can do the right thing and let us go, too."

Greg looked hurt, but nodded, pulling Crabbe toward the door.

She grabbed Draco and Hermione and they began running in the opposite direction, away from the door, searching for Harry.

She found him, clutching a rounded circular-object, the diadem. He was high up above them, on a tower of chairs. The flames were angrily rushing in around them all, blocking paths.

"CLIMB!" Draco shouted and began climbing a tower of furniture. Hermione and Pansy did the same. Slipping and fumbling up a tower of boxes, she looked down around the room to see almost everything was ablaze with the never ending fire.

They were trapped.

"W-what do we now, Harry?" Draco shouted to him. Harry had his brow furrowed, a look of panic on his face.

"Accio brooms!" Hermione cried and sure enough, three broomsticks soared toward them, relatively unburned.

Hermione climbed on the back of a broom, sitting behind Draco. Pansy and Harry clambered on their own brooms.

"Hurry! Toward the door!" Harry shouted over the roaring flames.

"Look!" She pointed to a tower as they soared over the flames. Harry looked to where she was pointing, and he frowned. Greg was climbing a tower in an effort to escape the fire. Crabbe was pursuing him, trying to grab his legs and pull him down.

"We can't leave him!" Pansy cried and leaned forward, diving toward Greg. Harry swore and followed suit.

"GREG!" Pansy shouted, reaching out a hand to help him, but had to swerve when Crabbe lunged at her. He managed to grab hold of her broom and was forcing her down, his weight too much to keep her aloft. She struggled to remain on the broom as he jerked it, trying to shake her off.

"If I burn, you burn with me, traitor!" He roared.

"LET GO!" Pansy kicked at him repeatedly, finally smashing into his face and shoving him off.

She watched Crabbe fall backwards into the flames.

Shaking, she flew higher, away from the flames, up toward Harry had Goyle with him on the broom.

They kicked it into high gear, racing to reach the doors before the wall of flames enclosed on them. Draco and Hermione screaming at them to get out.

Pansy hit the ground running as she broke through the doorway. She couldn't stop her momentum and tumbled, rolling across the floor.

Harry and Greg landed in a heap behind her.

Pansy rolled over and saw the diadem laying a few feet away from her. They still needed to destroy it.

She lunged toward it and picked it up.

"Pansy-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Hermione shouted as Pansy flicked her wrist, tossing it back through the doorway and into the flames. The fire exploded upon contact, a giant dragon formed in the flames, rising up over them, poised to strike down at them.

"ENOUGH!" Harry roared and forced the doors shut with his wand. There was a loud boom from inside the room, and then nothing.

Immediately, Harry fell, clutching his scar, writhing on the floor.

"It's…destroyed," Harry groaned, eyes squeezed shut in pain, forehead pressed against the carpet. "He's hurt. Bad."

Pansy let out a cry of relief at that and sank back to the floor, breathing heavily beside Draco and Hermione, who were trying to catch their breath as well.

Greg sat against the wall, staring at nothing, as if in shock.

"What's next?" She asked Harry after several moments.

"The snake," Harry said after a moment, glancing at Greg before deciding the boy wasn't a threat any longer.

"Good," Pansy sighed and stood up, brushing ash off of her pants. "I'll leave you lot to it, I have to meet back up with the twins."

"Thanks," Harry said to her, awkwardly. She glanced at him.

"For what?"

"It seems like you always come through for us in the end," he added. She looked away, uncomfortable.

"It's nothing, don't mention it. Really."

"What do we do about…?" Hermione looked at Greg, still sat in the corner.

"I'll handle it," Pansy sighed. She went and knelt beside Greg, who continued staring at the wall.

"Greg…?" She shook the boy, who startled, turning to look at her. "You…okay?"

"Am I a bad person?" He whispered, eyes wide as saucers. "Are…are we—am I on the wrong side? Am I one of the bad guys?"

She sighed, closing her eyes.

"You aren't a bad person," she murmured finally. "I've done worse things than you." She turned to look at him finally, and she noticed his eyes were glittering with unshed tears. "You know that, though, you know what I've done. You always pretended you didn't, but you knew what I did to Gibbon and Freya."

"You aren't evil P," Greg assured her quickly. "I always knew it. You're kind to me, always, everyone else treats me like I'm dumb, well, except you and Millie."

"No, I'm not a very good person," she laughed weakly, "but I'm trying to reform. Be a better friend, stop killing people, even though lately it's kinda been accidental."

"Do-do you think that I can? Reform, I mean?" Greg sighed, leaning his head back against the stone wall, but she could tell he was waiting anxiously for her answer.

"Yes," she reached out and put her hand on his. "I think we all can, if we really, really try. It's hard."

"I want to go home," Greg mumbled, and she thought he sounded like a tired, scared child. "I want to be with Millie, I don't want to be here anymore, I can't face it. My dad is here, too, I can't look at him."

"Go home, Greg," she soothed him, squeezing his hand. "Go home to Millie and tell her I still love her and that I miss her. Go home and be safe," she felt her voice catch in her throat. "I still love you too, you big stupid bear."

He laughed quietly at her old nickname for him.

"Go," she encouraged him and helped him to his feet.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, uncertain.

"Do you forgive me, P?" He asked quietly. "Are we still friends? You me, and Draco?"

"Of course," Draco answered from behind them. They both turned to see the beautiful pale boy smiling sadly at them. "That hasn't changed."

"Good," Greg nodded, soothed. "I hope I see you again."

Pansy hugged him quickly and Draco clapped him on the shoulder. She watched him apparate away with a loud crack as the wards had been destroyed. She almost envied him that he could just wink away, to safety, in the blink of an eye.

However, she changed her mind when she turned to look at her three friends standing there. Bloody, bruised, and burned. Utterly exhausted and in way over their heads, and she knew she couldn't give up, not ever.

"Hey!"

She looked up to see Fred, George, and—

"Charlie!" She breathed in relief as she watched the three brothers walk toward them.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," George grinned.

"Merlin, P, if you were so bored waiting you could have just read a book, you didn't have to set yourself on fire!" Fred nudged her.

"Where are you lot off to?" Charlie asked as he put an arm around her waist, kissing her temple.

She looked to Harry.

"I'm not exactly sure," Harry admitted. "We have to find the snake, and that'll be with Voldemort."

"Not sure where he is," Charlie said.

"Might as well join the fight," Draco said and Hermione nodded slowly, reluctantly. Harry agreed finally as well.

"Can we go with them?" She turned to the three Weasley's.

"It is on the way," Fred said with a smile.

"Right on, lead the way, Harry!" George picked up his rucksack.

"Finally," Charlie whispered in her ear, "I get to watch you in action." His hands traced along her waist and up her sides, and she shivered.

* * *

AN: Pansy, still the magnet for death, no matter how hard she tries.

I tentatively think that I am going to finish Part Three within the next five chapters, and then post an epilogue. I admit, I have most of it finished already, it's just the matter of posting it, which has been difficult, because I'll really miss writing for it when it's over.


	26. Chapter 26

Part Three: Chapter Twenty-six

AN: **WARNING** : Character death ahead, however, it is cannon, though that doesn't make me any less sorry about it.

* * *

Close to Midnight. Battle of Hogwarts. Pansy.

* * *

Pansy realized they were in trouble as they thundered through the corridors toward the fight.

Looking out the window, she could see more Death Eaters and followers streaming out from the Forbidden Forest toward the castle.

She saw bodies.

Fellow classmates and old professors.

Blasted to bits.

Dead.

They found Percy Weasley and Remus Lupin struggling to take three hooded Death Eaters down on the second floor. Pansy immediately went to work helping, as did Charlie, and they made quick work of it in no time at all.

"You're good at this," Charlie said to her and she flinched, peeking at him from the corner of her eye to see if he was disgusted. He had a proud smile on his face and her stomach clenched.

"Bill taught me a lot," she shrugged.

"Can you teach me?" He asked her and she smiled and nodded. The twins were discussing something with Lupin, all of their…toys… were still neatly packed in rucksacks and tucked in the corner, out of harms way and contained in shields to protect them from detonating on accident.

She noticed Lupin was staring at her rather harshly.

"Problem Professor?" Pansy snapped, tired of his staring. She met his yellow-brown eyes straight on and held him there, neither breaking eye contact.

Pansy could sense Hermione shifting nervously nearby, and Draco alternating between lifting and lowering his wand, struggling with the urge to protect her but not wanting to start a fight.

Charlie cleared his throat, placing a hand on her arm, trying to pull her back. She shook him off.

"How's Teddy, Remus?" Harry ventured, he was leaning against a doorframe looking dead tired, and Pansy could hear the strain in his voice.

"I'm curious as to why you've taken to hanging out with Death Eaters, Harry? Not sure that is what Dumbledore had in mind," his father's friend replied coldly.

"She is a Death Eater," Harry said.

"I've heard stories about her," Lupin countered, raising his wand.

"By happy chance, I never had the pleasure of taking the mark," Pansy murmured, "however, I never have said no to a fight. It appears my reputation has preceded me."

"Remus, Pansy is our friend, she's been helping us." Harry stepped in before Remus could respond. He could see Pansy sinking deeper into a defensive stance, her shoulders rolled back and confident, notorious sneer across her face.

"Breaking into Gringotts and killing your opponents isn't exactly hero work, you shouldn't be such a fool, Harry," Remus muttered, his eyes still locked on Pansy. "How do you know she isn't using you, or baiting you?"

"You haven't spent a month with her like we have, Remus," Hermione insisted, "She helped rescue us when we were taken to Malfoy Manor, she's turned away from her old friends, her parents, she is helping us on the mission, so is Draco. Dumbledore—"

"Dumbledore did not let his enemies into his inner circle," Remus cut her off.

"They hasn't asked anything of us," Draco said motioning to himself and Pansy, "Everything we have done, it's because we wanted to."

"Of course you do, you probably are going to back stab them all as soon as you come face to face with You-know-wh—"

"I know all about you," Pansy interrupted Remus, her voice was quiet and steady, measured. "I know what you are, who you are, and I know your pain."

Remus stared at her, unsure of what to say.

"I know that people alienated you, and made you out to be some villain, all because of something you didn't have control over," Pansy continued. "I know that you met a group of friends at school who saw past all of the bullshit and decided to give you a chance, and I think it's safe to assume that they were proven right."

"Pansy and Draco aren't very different from any of us," Hermione broke the long thoughtful silence. "Their parents put them into a position, forced them into a side, and they didn't have a say, because they love their parents, as they should. They were forced to make due in circumstances that were beyond their control."

"I love my parents," Draco murmured. "I know, I know, they've done some really terrible things. My dad doesn't know when to say enough is enough. I was raised thinking their way was the only way, but I think their way might kill them, maybe even kill us all."

"Harry and Hermione, Charlie and Fred and George, even Bill and Fleur, they _see_ us," Pansy continued, her voice passionate.

"They all look at us and they see Pansy and Draco, not Pansy and Draco: the children of Death Eaters. You look at us and you see evil, you see bad stuff. I won't deny it, neither will Draco, we have done bad things," she took a deep breath. Charlie took her hand, squeezing her tightly, encouragingly.

"I'm still capable of bad things. I just choose to keep trying to be better everyday, because they," she addressed the group standing around her, "are my friends, and I stand by them. Isn't that something? Doesn't that mean something, that we make the choice to be good, even when we are ourselves are surrounded by darkness?"

"Fenrir Greyback took my innocence away from me when I was just a small boy," Remus said and he lowered his wand. "I couldn't forgive him for what he did to me, and I also couldn't forgive myself, as crazy as that seems. It wasn't until I was with my wife, Nymphadora, that I realized I couldn't control the actions of others, only the actions of myself. I have urges, brought on by the moon, and I repress them and fight them every month. It's tiring, but I know it's the right thing to do, to control it."

Pansy lowered her wand as well, followed by Draco. Harry began to relax as Pansy and Remus appeared to have struck a chord of understanding.

"I see value in what you have shared with me," Remus added. "I understand it and I see that we might not be as different as I wrongly pre-conceived. I do remember you aside from your…reputation, Miss Parkinson. You were in my Defense classes, and you were very gifted, I just thought that your talent was amplified by darkness. I see that perhaps I was wrong about that, too."

"I enjoyed your lessons, you were probably the only good Defense professor we've ever had," Pansy gave a genuine grin. "I hated the Bogart lesson though, mine just transformed into—something really personal, and it's bothered me ever since that I never managed to change it like we were supposed to."

"Well, then we will have to sit down and have a discussion about that when we get an opportunity," Remus gave her a faint smile back.

"Well this has been right deep and emotional," Fred drawled.

"But Remus here has an assignment for us," George added, a mischievous smile on his face.

"What is it?" Pansy rubbed her hands together.

"We want to have something blown up, level the playing field, their forces are too much for us to handle," Remus said.

"That sounds exce-"

Her words were caught off as a massive explosion ripped through the corridor, crumbling a wall and a portion of the ceiling. She hit the ground, her head smacking against a large piece of stone, as dust and smoke filled the room, blinding her. Something warm trickled down her head and she felt her eyelids growing heavy—

 _Pansy had once been on a muggle carousel._

 _There had been a small carnival that would take place every summer in the village down the hill from her home. One summer, before she was Hogwarts age, she snuck down to the village to look at the amusement rides one night._

 _Pansy had spotted the carousel and was quickly fascinated, and to her delight, the muggle operating the strange machine allowed her to get on._

 _The small girl had clambered to sit atop one of the decorated metal horses, and suddenly the frantic organ music rushed into her ears as it started, turning round and round._

 _She recalled the feeling of being frozen, her face plastered into an expression of confusion and fear as her eyes took in the swirling colors and lights, muggles surrounding her, shouting with glee, and she had trembled atop the horse._

 _It felt like she was going as fast as a speeding broomstick, colors and sounds blurred around her and overwhelmed her, terrifying her._

 _As soon as the ride had stopped, she had tumbled down off the horse, smacking her head against the metal floor of the ride. Clutching her head, which had a lump forming on it already, she wavered, dazed and petrified._

 _The muggle man controlling the ride walked toward her, concerned, though she was too startled to understand what he was saying. He got closer to her and she panicked before turning to race past him, ignoring his questioning shouts as she ran as fast her little legs could carry her, back up the hill toward her home, sobbing all the way._

 _Effie had scolded her gently about the dangers of venturing into the muggle world, but the elf knew she didn't have to worry because Pansy had been absolutely terrified._

The same feeling of frozen fear surrounded Pansy once more as she came to, blinking through the dust, a loud ringing in her ears.

She made out a figure crawling across the rubble to a—

"NO," She coughed out, trying to sit up, bile rising in her throat.

George was trying to rouse Fred, who was laying crumbled under a large portion of wall, unmoving.

Not breathing.

She could feel her lips moving, mouth open, and her chest heaving as she screamed, over and over again, though she couldn't hear it with her own ears.

She couldn't make sound come to her, and she put a hand to her right ear, rubbing. When she withdrew it, her fingers were covered in blood. Her eardrums had been ruptured from the force of the blast.

Movement to her left caught her attention and she turned, feeling like she was under water, and she saw a hooded figure enter the corridor, surveying the disaster laid out before him.

Everything was in slow motion and Pansy felt disconnected as she felt herself raise her own wand, and amidst her screams, screech out a curse that sent the Death Eater hurling against the wall.

Pansy didn't know if she herself was even alive, her skin felt flayed raw and a throb in her head felt like someone was repeatedly kicking her in the skull.

Someone pulled her to her knees, and she turned to see Charlie with a large burn across his face. He reached out with a bloody hand and covered her mouth, forcing it shut, stopping her screaming.

Hermione was frantically bent over Draco, whose shirt had been practically burnt off his body, pouring something from a vial on his chest, which had been stripped of—

She turned her head and vomited.

Harry sat beside them, trembling, though he seemed relatively unhurt—

Charlie moved from his place beside her, toward Fred's body, which George had cradled to him. Percy was huddled beside him, sobbing.

 _Fred isn't dead. He's going to wake up_ , she kept repeating in her head. Charlie was holding George as the fight waged on outside, tears glittering down his ash-covered face.

She looked at George who cried openly, his forehead pressed to Fred's, and she couldn't begin to figure out how this could happen, how his twin could just be gone.

Poof. A candle flame blown out.

Fred and George had quickly become her friends, and now Fred was gone and she couldn't put into the words how sorry she was.

She couldn't imagine the pain that his family would feel forevermore—

And Charlie. _Oh Charlie!_ Her heart felt like it was breaking in two at she looked at the man that had somehow become her most favorite person in the world in a matter of only a few weeks.

How did this happen?

She turned to look at their bags, which they had warded, and grew confused when she saw everything was still contained and protected. Their equipment hadn't detonated.

Then how—

Realization dawned on her. Fred and George had told her they had set large scale land mines outside the castle, on the west si—

"PANSY!" and just like that, she was ripped back to reality, the sounds of battle beating against her, returning to ears. Harry had pointed his wand and healed them for her.

"This isn't how it was supposed to be," she whispered, staring at him with wide, frozen eyes.

"Pansy, you have to get up, we need to- we need to move Fred out of the way, we can't leave him here," Harry said urgently, shaking her again. Her gaze flickered to Draco, who was awake and sitting up, his chest wrapped and bandages. Harry and Hermione apparently knew their stuff when it came to healing.

"Move him," Pansy murmured and she turned to look at Fred's body, "where?"

"We'll move him into that alcove over there, until we can come back for him," Harry said and moved toward Charlie to speak to him. Remus, not seriously hurt either, was consoling Percy.

"Charlie, we have to move Fred, it isn't safe for him here with everyone running around, he'll be trampled," Harry told him.

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut but nodded as he began trying to pull Fred from George's arms.

"NO!" George bellowed, holding Fred tighter to him, "NO! WE CAN'T LEAVE HIM!"

"George, it isn't safe for him here, or any of us. We will come back for him, I promise, we have to get him out of here, you need to get away from here," Harry pressed.

"I can't leave him!" George's face twisted. Harry looked toward her, as if to say, " _what do I do?"_

"George," Pansy whispered, crawling beside him. She touched his arm, and she was relieved he didn't pull away from her touch. "G, we will move him behind that suit of armor right there, in the alcove. Do you see it?"

George nodded slowly.

"I will cast a shield to keep him safe, and we will go and finish what we started, and then we will come back for him. Do you hear me? _We will come back for him_."

George nodded silently and Harry pulled him to his feet. She turned to Charlie and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know if-," Charlie mumbled weakly, rubbing at his face.

"If what?" she breathed and wipe soot from his cheek.

"I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep fighting," he murmured and turned to look at her, his hazel eyes were bloodshot and empty.

"Charlie, you don't have to be strong enough on your own," she intertwined her fingers with his. "I'll help you, we can be strong together, we can be strong for Fred. He would want us to keep fighting, wouldn't he?"

"Yes," Charlie breathed and he squeezed her hand tighter.

"Let's move him now," she said and they stood up. Harry and Remus dragged Fred behind the suit of armor. Pansy concentrated on making sure the remaining Weasley brothers weren't struck by any spells from the outside, the three trailing behind her like zombies, unblinking and devoid of expression.

Hermione helped Draco to his feet, one of his arms around her shoulders and leaned most of his weight on her. A lot of her hair had been singed off.

They tucked Fred behind the armor and Pansy cast her quick Pure Heart protective charm over the little niche, which would keep any harmful intruders at bay.

Harry seemed to be fighting a battle within, wanting to stay and grieve but knowing he had to continue on with the mission.

"Go," Pansy told him and gave him a knowing look. "Take Draco and Hermione. I'll take care of the boys, I won't leave their side."

Harry gave her a sad yet grateful nod, cast his eyes toward George, Charlie, and Percy before reluctantly walking away. Hermione and Draco followed slowly behind him.

"I'LL KILL THEM ALL!" Percy was fighting against Remus, who was trying to contain him, "I'LL KILL EVERY SINGLE BLOODY DEATH EATER IN THIS CASTLE! LET ME GO!"

He broke free and ran out of the corridor, Remus chasing after him, promising to watch out for him.

"What now?" Charlie breathed, pressed against her side.

"We need to finish this, once and for all," Pansy said, and still clutching his and George's hands tightly, pulled them away from his Fred's body.

* * *

AN: When I first started dreaming up Dark Places in my head, I had Pansy romantically involved with both of the twins, but in an innocent way, like she liked them both so much she couldn't possibly choose and Fred still died even then. However, something made me change from keeping her with George to pairing her with Charlie, and I'm not sorry about it because it really flows better and I love the Charlie I have created. Charlie makes me weak in the knees, but I do still have a special place in my heart for the twins, and the death of Fred always hurts me the most out of any of the others.


	27. Chapter 27

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-seven

AN: A little more death, a little more destruction.

* * *

Battle of Hogwarts. Pansy.

* * *

Two hours after the explosion on the second floor, a silver wolf patronus materialized in front of them. Pansy wasn't sure she was comfortable with working with explosives so soon after…everything, but Remus had said this was critical for helping their side recover enough to keep fighting, and Pansy frankly was ready to do anything to be done with the fight.

"That's our cue from Remus!" Pansy nudged George from where they crouched on the balcony, Charlie beside them.

George gave her a dark look that made the hairs on that back of her neck stand up as he turned a pulled out a small red box from his sack.

"Here goes nothing," he whispered and pulled back the lid. A brilliant red fizzing spark burst out of the box, and whistling and whizzing, it flew up and over the entrance hall before bursting into a thunderous firework explosion that hovered over the battle below, before bursting into many brilliant and violent fireworks that continued to build off of the first one.

At once, all of the Order members and Hogwarts fighters rushed into the Great Hall as the Death Eaters stood confused, gazing at the fireworks.

Charlie let out a low whistle as he stared in fascination at the explosions.

Several Death Eaters began throwing curses and charms to try to stop the deafening booms and the immense heat radiating down on them, but it only created more firework explosions.

Pansy had been inspired by the Gemino curse.

A brilliant red dragon made of sparks manifested from a golden rocket, and it loomed over the crowd of villains and began breathing fire down onto them. The walls were beginning to crack from the heat and force of the explosions and the dragon was quickly setting the roof of the entrance hall on fire.

The dragon had been homage to Charlie.

Pansy felt herself smile despite the gory scene below. She knew her protective shield would hold over their balcony and on the walls of the Great Hall. This was the time their side needed to recover, and it was going to take out a lot of Voldemort's forces.

George's eyes were fixated as he watched the Death Eaters below begin to burn to death, Charlie had already looked away, disturbed, and Pansy realized it was time to move away.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her last creation, a tiny ring-sized black box, and pulled off the lid.

A black spark flew up and joined the rest of the fireworks, but as it exploded it cast an impenetrable darkness over the hall below, so nothing in the hall could be seen.

"What was that?" Charlie turned to look at her, confusion on his eyes.

"I made it. Peruvian Instant Darkness firework. I kind of upgraded your powder idea, George, thought it might come in handy," she explained, though slightly sheepish for stealing the twins' idea.

"Brilliant," George breathed and Charlie took her hand, giving it a firm squeeze.

Instead of the silver wolf patronus, a weasel appeared before them and spoke:

" _Explosion bought time. All dark side forces have been pushed to retreat outside castle Recovery is a go."_

Pansy and Charlie exchanged a grin just as the ceiling to the hall gave way and rushed down to cover the quieting targets below.

Pansy felt a rush of relief as she noticed that though the ceiling and front entrance wall had collapsed, the walls around the Great Hall remained intact and sturdy, as did the rest of the school.

Dust was settling and billowing out into the night sky, and Pansy just then began to think that they were going to come out of the fight in victory.

Suddenly, a voice that can only be recognized as that of Voldemort permeated through the air.

" _Your futile attempt at dissipating my numbers was unsuccessful. However, I applaud your refusal to give up. Too much magical blood has been shed tonight, and I would like to put an end to this. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. If Harry Potter does not stand before me in the Forbidden Forest in one hours time, I will kill every last man, woman, and child that stands in my way."_

Pansy and Charlie stared at each other in horror as silence crushed down on the Hogwarts grounds.

"He wouldn't," Charlie whispered.

"I think it's time we go get Fred and bring him to your parents," Pansy murmured and stood up, wiping the dust off her pants in a futile attempt to clean off the grime of battle.

Pansy tried to contain her tears of agony as she watched George and Charlie carry Fred.

Fred's head lulled to the side against George's chest, and Pansy thought he looked as if he were sleeping.

George had his teeth gritted and there was a look of ferocity in his eyes, like he was physically fighting away his emotions.

Charlie was rapidly blinking and would occasionally cough, looking away.

They clambered over the rubble and rocks of the fallen entrance hall ceiling, toward the shielded wall and doors to the Great Hall, protected by Pure Heart.

"WAIT," Pansy skidded to a stop, which had the brothers lurching and struggling to hold Fred up. Her mouth was open and her face frozen in horror. They followed her gaze to a body lying on the ground before them, half under rubble.

"Remus," Charlie whispered and he strained to hold Fred as his shoulders sagged in grief.

"H-how?" Pansy felt her head shaking furiously back and forth in denial, "Remus was just—we j-just got h-his patronus… before the explosion!"

"That's just it, isn't it?" George's voice was cold, grim. "He must have gotten caught outside the doors during it. My dad sent his patronus to us after it was over."

In her madness, she whipped her wand out and began moving the stone off of Remus, dread filling her as she realized that they had inadvertently killed him.

She was shaking, gasping for air, a panic attack overtaking her, "I killed Remus!"

"Pansy," Charlie silenced her, and she turned to look at him, trying to breathe. "Get it together, okay? Remus knew what we were planning, he was part of this, it was an accident, this isn't your fault."

"What about his wife? And Harry? Oh! W-what about his kid?" Pansy felt her chest tighten. "I never meant for this to happen! And Fred! None of this was supposed to happen this way!"

"P," George said in a soft voice, and she looked back up when she heard the brokenness of it.

He looked absolutely defeated, holding his dead twin brother up, and Pansy realized that it wouldn't get easier, and things would certainly get a lot worse before the end of the battle.

"The only thing we can do now is bring him in and let the others grieve over him with us," Charlie said quietly, to her. "The only gift we can give to him now is to bring him in and let him be with his wife, she'll want to see him."

Pansy nodded and gained control over her lungs once more. It was strange, she thought suddenly, to grieve over other people.

To feel part of something worth dying for.

She looked at the brothers and realized they were emotionally drained, there was nothing left that could destroy them more than the loss of Fred and Ron already had.

Charlie pulled Remus up under his arms and she grabbed Fred's legs helping George, crossing over the shield. She stopped to push open the doors before picking his legs back up, George and Charlie right behind her.

Pansy was immediately greeted with the scene of sadness before them.

Many rows of bodies covered the floor of the hall, all of the long tables had been pushed against the walls. Most bodies were covered with blankets, cloaks, or sheets, but many were left uncovered, which made one wish they would be covered, so that the hope of a loved one still being alive could continue for a little bit longer.

However, a feeling of numbness began to seep over her, and she realized this must be how George and Charlie were feeling.

"Look." Charlie's gaze broke through her thoughts.

She followed his pointed gaze to a body on the ground. It was Nymphadora Tonks, who had already met her husband in death.

Pansy sighed deeply. _At least now they will be together_ , she thought to herself.

Charlie dragged Remus over and laid him down beside his wife, the couple's hands almost touching.

They slowly began walking toward the back of the hall, and it was then that others began to notice them.

"Wait, what's wrong with Fre-," Neville called out to them before stopping, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. Luna, who sat beside him, put an hand on his arm to silence and comfort him, her own eyes grim. An open cut dripped down her cheek.

"FRED!" A voice shrieked and silenced the hall. Everyone turned to watch as Molly Weasley ran towards them, her scream only getting louder as she confirmed that her other son was indeed dead.

Arthur Weasley skidded to a stop beside her and he immediately caught Molly as she began to crumple toward the ground, loud raw sobs escaping from her.

The rest of the Weasley's gathered and began grieving. Fleur wrestled with Bill who looked as if he wanted to bolt out of the hall in pure shock, and he buried his face into her hair, shoulders shaking.

Ginny and Percy, who had made it into the Great Hall in time, held each other upright, hugging as they sobbed into each other's shoulders.

George lay Fred on the ground and sat beside his head. Molly lay down beside Fred, her head on his chest, and cried.

Pansy didn't know what to do, then Charlie took her hand, and soon Hermione and Draco joined her. She noticed Harry walk up and stop, standing a few feet back. She knew Potter would be feeling immense guilt in this moment, especially when he was surrounded by all of those bodies in the hall.

Draco was holding Hermione to him, stroking her hair as she, too, cried. He gave Pansy a sad look and she just bit her lips and shrugged as if to say: " _I don't know what to do."_

Charlie squeezed her hand and gave her a long look before he went to go sit beside Bill, who was sitting on a bench, staring with blank eyes at the ground in front of him.

She walked over to Harry and touched his arm. He turned to look at her, his green eyes pained.

"Guilt hurts worse than death," she said and he nodded, understanding. They didn't say anything more and she didn't do more than keep a hand on his arm, but she knew it was enough for him.

After a long time, the Weasley's had grown quiet, their tears running out. Molly had moved into a sitting position and she was holding Ginny, who had red-rimmed unblinking eyes. George remained silent, gazing down at his brother.

Pansy felt Harry move from her side and she watched him head towards the exit of the hall.

He glanced back at her over his shoulder, as if to say: "do you think you can stop me?" and she simply blinked at him and followed after him out of the hall. Pansy knew she wasn't in the position to tell Harry what to do to try to alleviate his guilt, and if he did something destructive, she would have to live with the additional guilt of letting him go, but she had to at least say something to him.

"Where are you going?" She stopped him outside. He was standing on a pile of rubble. Turning to look at her, he sighed.

"I have to take care of something," he said finally. She winced, wanting to question him further, but not knowing how to, or if she should.

"What can I do?" She asked him quietly.

"You know Voldemort's snake, Pansy? He's got a huge snake... Calls her Nagini?"

She nodded in affirmative.

"It's got to be killed. Hermione and Draco know that, but just in case they — just in case they're…busy…and you get the chance —"

Understanding hit her. "Kill the snake?"

"Kill the snake."

"And then kill Him?" She knew what he was saying, why he was telling _her_ this. Pansy had an awful habit of not dying and knack for killing.

Harry simply gave her a look. "Thanks again, I know you said not to mention it, but thank you."

"Anything for you, fearless noble leader," she said without an ounce of sarcasm. He shrugged and then gave a small weak smile before walking away.

"Harry?"

He stopped.

"It was worth it."

She let him go.

Shaking herself, she went back inside and crouched at George's side. Transfiguring a tissue into a cloth, she wet it with another charm and began dapping at the blood on his face, trying to clean the wound so she could close it.

"What are you doing here?" Molly's voice rang out, "can't you see our family is grieving?"

Pansy opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She dropped the cloth.

"She's part of us now," Charlie said to his mother, standing up. Pansy looked at him in surprise. "She's part of us, and she loves us."

"A girl like that doesn't love anything except herself," Molly Weasley hissed back at him. "Look at her family."

"I'm in love with her," Charlie said calmly, as if discussing the weather. "I want no one else but her."

Pansy froze, her heart thudded in her chest. Never had she thought it was possible that someone like Charlie, someone so good, would ever love her. She had known her feelings for him went deeper than friendship, but as she had murmured to Hermione several nights ago, she wouldn't have begun to expect anything more than the gift of his friendship.

"She is a death eater!" Molly cried out. "You can't expect me to trust her"

"No one said you have to," Pansy snapped suddenly, turning to face the matriarch. "Most of your sons have already accepted me, have found trust in me! Harry and Hermione trust me! Luna and Fleur and Neville trust me, even Remus trusted me!"

Fury rolled through her body.

"If you can't respect their opinions enough to give me a chance, then I don't want your trust! I do not need it!"

Molly stared at her incredulously, her mouth in an "o" as if she could not believe that someone was standing up to her.

Charlie walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, head on her shoulder, staring his mother down.

"I alzays knew I liked you," Fleur said from behind them, a smile on her face. Pansy thought that even in the throes of battle Fleur still managed to look absolutely angelic. "Molly, you must accept zat your sons will love who zey love, you cannot dictate zeir 'earts."

"I-" Molly sputtered.

"You 'ave bullied me and doubted me for too long. I will not allow eet any longer," Fleur continued on forcefully. "I will also not allow you to bully any other spouse zat comes along, either."

"Phl-Fleur is right, Mum," Ginny spoke up from beside her father and Percy, "Pansy has proven herself to not only Harry and The Order, but our family as well. We need to give everyone a fair chance." Ginny sent Fleur an apologetic look at her last statement.

"I've always wanted more sisters," Percy said finally after a moment of silence and gave a nod toward Pansy, and Bill nodded his head silently in agreement.

"So eets settled," Fleur announced firmly, "Pansy es one of us."

Molly simply sighed and picked up the cloth Pansy had dropped and started wiping off Fred's face.

Pansy felt a rush of gratitude toward the other Weasley's and another rush of love washed over her as Charlie brushed his lips against her cheek. They stood, pressed against each other in silence.


	28. Chapter 28

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-eight.

AN: I've lulled you into a false sense of calm. Now watch me tear it to shreds.

* * *

Pansy. Armistice of the Battle of Hogwarts.

* * *

"Where's Harry?" Pansy jerked away from where she had started to doze off, propped against a bench, leaning against Charlie's legs.

She looked up at Hermione, feeling dread fill her stomach as she realized he wasn't back yet.

"He chucked off a while back," Pansy murmured.

"Did he say where he was going?" Hermione pressed from where she sitting on the ground beside Draco. The curly haired girl had been shooting Molly embarrassed and guilty looks for the past hour. Pansy realized that it must have been awkward to be sitting with your new…whatever… right beside your dead former boyfriend's mother.

"I didn't ask," Pansy replied, and was greeted with an uncomfortable silence.

"What do you mean? You didn't think to ask him where he was going? Make sure he wasn't trying to hand himself over?" Hermione cried out, her hands flinging in exasperation as she got to her feet.

"I didn't know I was supposed to," Pansy sat up, shrugging her shoulders.

"Do you not realize how serious this is?" Bill questioned her, a look of disappointment on his face. Pansy shrunk back as if she had been slapped. Her mentor being disappointed in her was not something she could fathom.

"Pansy," Hermione snapped as if talking to an unruly, naughty child, "do you realize that if Harry hands himself over, then we basically have a death sentence slapped over our heads as well?"

"I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT I WAS IN CHARGE OF HIM," Pansy shouted and stood up, her face turning red with irritation. "No one informed me that I was Potter's mum! No, Harry was standing by me, he got his typical hero do-gooder look on his face and marched off, and I didn't think anything of it because I was not informed that I get to dictate how he handles his issues!"

"Pansy, do you realize that normal people, good friends, they look out for others, right?" Hermione sneered and Draco and Pansy's mouths fell open in shock.

"Y-your saying I-I'm not a good friend? What?" Pansy sputtered, feeling the familiar clench of anger in her stomach. Her tongue felt heavy and a metallic taste filled her mouth, she began resisting the urge to spew back words that could not be taken back.

"You aren't acting like one," Charlie said quietly. Pansy jumped back from him, her eyes burning with tears of rage and pain.

"You're taking her side?" She gasped.

"Why wouldn't I? She's right and you're-," Pansy cut him off.

"I'm Pansy Parkinson, the evil selfish Death Eater who only cares about herself," she finished for him. Horror sinking in, she realized she had ruined everything once again. "Guess I'm not reformed, huh, Charlie? Guess I'm not the girl you thought I was?"

"Pans, no one thinks that," Draco said and held out an arm as if to comfort her, but she shrank back from him. "Right? We'll figure it out, Pansy didn't mean any harm."

Hermione and the others were silent.

"They do mean it, Draco, you should get it through your head. We'll never be good enough for them, we're not nice enough for any of them," Pansy growled, tears streaming down her face, but she was too hurt to be ashamed, "The sooner you realize that people like them can't love people like us, the better off you'll be."

"Pans—"

"Just shut up," She snapped at Draco, shot one last glance at Charlie, who looked as if someone had killed his puppy, and she turned on her heel and left the Great Hall.

"Pansy wait! I didn't mean it!" Charlie called after her, but she ignored him.

Hermione began sobbing as the doors slammed behind Pansy, and she dropped to the bench beside Fleur, who wouldn't look at her.

Charlie cussed and punched the table out of anger

"W-why would you say that stuff to her?" Draco looked down at her, his face torn between sadness and anger. "She's done so much for us, for all of you, she made a mistake."

"We can't afford mistakes!" Hermione cried.

"Well that is really sad," Draco replied coldly. "You know who else always says there is never any room for mistakes? Voldemort." Draco watched Hermione flinch at the comparison. "If this is how the "light" side treats friends, loyal friends, then I don't think I want to be a part of it either."

"So you're leaving, too, mate?" Charlie spoke finally, his eyes empty, he looked utterly wounded.

"Yeah, I'm going to find Pansy and be a friend to her," Draco narrowed his eyes, "Guess you don't really love her after all."

Charlie's hands balled into fists, and he stood up.

"Don't you even dare—"

"She can make a patronus you know," Draco called over his shoulder as he walked away, "didn't they always used to tell you that dark-hearted, selfish people could never make one?"

"How did you do it?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned briefly to see Narcissa Malfoy standing in the doorway, watching her.

She had found an empty classroom on the third floor of the east side of the castle and had been sitting there for several moments.

"Do what? Survive?" Pansy quipped, turning back to continue staring at the exploding sky outside the window, her hair swinging around her shoulders.

"Watch your tone," Narcissa snapped angrily. Pansy didn't respond, but she noted that Narcissa did not move from the doorway either.

"How did I do what?" Pansy asked grudgingly after many moments of uncomfortable silence. She cursed the mother of her best friend for refusing to be forthcoming purely because she knew Pansy would cave in out of curiosity.

"How did you get those—people, to forgive you?" The woman asked quietly, no airs of self-importance or disdain in her voice.

"Woman to woman?" Pansy asked and Narcissa responded with an "mhm."

"I'm not quite sure how I managed. I was always waiting for them to realize that I was still a snake lying underneath a flower and tell me to go to hell." She chuckled darkly at the thought. "but I don't have to wait any more, I just fucked everything up for myself."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

They were silent for a few minutes.

"Do you ever think our mothers have ruined us?" Narcissa asked, and to Pansy's surprise, came and sat beside her.

It was disconcerting to see the elegant and refined woman folding herself down ungracefully onto the stone floor of a burning school, her tone casual as if discussing the weather.

"Isn't that an interesting idea," Pansy said and they both laughed, though their wasn't any humor in their eyes. "Do you think that's my problem?" Pansy asked the woman who had often served as a confident to her as a young girl.

"Besides being a spoiled little bitch?" Narcissa smirked, but she touched her knee in affection, "I think you are a product of being raised by house elves and being ignored by selfish parents."

"I sometimes think 'I could have turned out worse", Pansy admitted and gave a real laugh.

"On the contrary, I am often raked with the troubling guilt that I could have been _better_ ," Narcissa said, and they were both plunged into thoughtful silence once more at that.

Pansy wasn't sure what this conversation was, simply because as long as she had known Narcissa Malfoy, she had been very aware that nothing came without a price.

No lesson had ever been free.

"Draco is sorry that he had to betray you," she offered to the woman, who simply nodded. Apparently she knew that already.

"I fancy the way you found a way to wipe your slate clean," Narcissa told her, "you and Draco both." She gave Pansy a smile at that.

"I have begun to realize the errors of my ways entirely too late, but I am saved by the thought that you and Draco started over, at least for a short while."

"We didn't start over," Pansy countered, "We had to change everyone's minds about ourselves as we were. We just realized we wanted to do what was right, not what was easy."

"Being good and doing what is right is never easy, not for us," Narcissa agreed.

"I struggle everyday to be worthy of all of them."

"Ah, but isn't it nice to feel worthy of something?" Narcissa looked almost sad, "it's been a very long time since I have felt worthy."

"Be careful, you're showing a lot of weakness tonight."

"We are all going to die anyway," Narcissa retorted.

"I messed up tonight," Pansy admitted and she felt tears sting her eyes. "They all hate me."

"It can't have been that bad, you didn't kill anyone, did you?"

"I think I let Harry hand himself over to Voldemort." Pansy sighed, ignoring the slight jab the woman made.

"I didn't realize it was your duty to make Potter's decisions," Narcissa chuckled. Her lipstick was smudged on the corner of her mouth. Pansy rather enjoyed seeing the imperfection.

"A real friend wouldn't allow their friend to walk into certain danger," she said quietly.

"Perhaps, but a real friend would understand that sometimes sacrifices have to be made and there isn't always another option to be had."

Pansy was silent once more at that. Her knees pulled to her chest, her chin resting on them as she contemplated Narcissa's words.

"We're going to die tonight, aren't we?" She asked the older woman, and when she turned to look at her, she noticed the look of utter exhaustion etched on the socialites face.

"Probably," Narcissa gave her a grim smile and stood up, holding out her elegant slender hand to Pansy. Pansy scrunched her eyebrows but allowed herself to be hauled to her feet, "but perhaps we can make some things right."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to the Forbidden Forest, and I believe you have a wrong to right."

Pansy had to jog to keep up with Narcissa's long strides as they made their way toward the gaping hole where the entrance hall used to be.

"I don't understand what we are doing," she said with gasping breaths, her tired muscles straining.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to make amends somehow, which means I'm going to try and get to Potter before The Dark Lord does; and you, you need to make yourself something of a hero and help your friends, despite their current opinions of you at the moment."

"Do you honestly think that will work?" Pansy huffed.

"What is that quote on the tapestry in the Slytherin common room? Hanging between the two tallest book shelves?" The older woman arched her eyebrow, waiting for the younger one to respond.

"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends," Pansy muttered.

"Exactly, so quit feeling sorry for yourself and do something good," Narcissa ordered. They had reached the entrance of the school and they stood, looking over each other awkwardly.

"You're a decent girl, Pansy," Narcissa said finally. "You are not quite as intolerable as people make you out to be."

"It sounds like there might be a compliment in there somewhere," Pansy grumbled sarcastically.

"Your mother does not deserve you."

Pansy felt uncomfortable with those words, they didn't appear affectionate, but coming from Narcissa, it was a high praise.

"Uh—maybe I don't deserve her?"

"For once in your life, Pansy Parkinson, have a little faith in yourself," Narcissa swatted at her and clucked her tongue, but she did smooth Pansy's hair and gave her a tight motherly smile. Narcissa gave her one last knowing look before disappearing into the darkness of the grounds and Pansy gathered her wand.

She had a snake to find.

* * *

AN: This was the first chapter I ever wrote for Dark Places. I've had it ready and waiting for a very long time.

The end is nigh...


	29. Chapter 29

Part Three. Chapter Twenty-nine.

"And now I cling to what I knew  
I saw exactly what was true  
But oh no more.  
That's why I hold,  
That's why I hold with all I have.  
That's why I hold.

And I won't die alone and be left there.  
Well I guess I'll just go home,  
Oh God knows where.  
Because death is just so full and man so small.  
Well I'm scared of what's behind and what's before."

-Mumford & Sons "After The Storm"

* * *

Pansy. Always.

* * *

She was unsure of where to proceed to find something to kill the snake with. She knew Draco and Hermione had used basilisk fangs, but she wasn't sure she could locate one given the time crunch. She also wasn't sure if the fiendfyre would still be raging in the room of requirement were she to try and summon it again, much less how she would get the snake up there and manage to toss it in.

Standing in the destroyed entrance hall, she mulled over it, before an idea came to her mind.

Harry had learned about destroying Horcruxes from Dumbledore himself, and though he was really and truly dead, she thought of the next best thing.

Taking off through the ruined castle, she found herself running down a corridor to the Headmasters office. The stone gargoyle that usually stood guard at t he entrance was smashed on the ground, though she thought she heard it sigh dramatically as she passed.

Climbing the stone spiral staircase, she burst into the large office and had to steady herself on a chair to stop from falling over.

Several portraits of previous old headmasters hissed or jeered at her, but she ignored them.

Hanging behind the desk was the only one she paid attention to.

"Er, can you help me?" She asked awkwardly, standing before it, before cringing slightly and adding a polite, "sir."

"That remains to be foreseen, but you can certainly tell me what services you seek," The bearded old man replied sagely, peering at her over his half-moon spectacles.

"You told Harry about how to destroy the...items that would help defeat …Voldemort, right?" She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Indeed," Dumbledore replied.

"I've been helping him," she explained after a moment. "Harry…he left me a task before he went—before he went to meet with Voldemort. He asked me to make sure it gets done, but how do I-er, how do I destroy them? What can I use?"

"What have you been using so far?" The old headmaster prompted.

"Harry said they used the sword of Gryffindor, but I'm not a Gryffindor and I don't know where it is. I know that Draco and Hermione used basilisk fangs in the Chamber of Secrets, but I don't know if I have enough time to get down there, and I destroyed one when fiendfyre took over the room of requirement."

"All valid methods," Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, but is there something else? Anything else I can use?" She pressed, growing impatient.

"If it is a living object, perhaps you could try the killing curse, that tends to be irreversible," he chuckled.

"Yes, but what if that doesn't work?" She cried, frustrated.

"I have often found that one can never know an outcome until they try it," Dumbledore replied. She wanted to reach into the portrait and throttle him for being so vague.

"However, I think that the situation tends to present itself, given such circumstances," Dumbledore added, "I should think everything should, how muggles might say, 'work out in the end."

"I guess that'll have to do, though I'm not sure you've been a ton of help," Pansy griped. "But I guess it's the best help I'm going to get, so thank you for giving me your time."

He simply nodded at her and she spun on her heel and left the office.

She returned to the entrance and was preparing to search the grounds for the snake and hopefully Harry when she saw Draco, who ran toward her when he saw her.

"Pansy! There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" He snapped and threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she mumbled and hugged him back. "They have a lot of reason for thinking the things they said, I know I have to keep proving myself."

"You've already done so much," Draco sighed, "We both have. I keep hoping it gets easier, but this hero work is not all that it's cracked out to be."

"Tell me about it," she grumbled and he laughed. "Listen, Harry left me with a job, and I could use your help."

"Anything," he promised her and finally let her go. She could tell his chest was still hurting him and he looked truly banged up and frankly, she wasn't sure where the dirt and blood ended and he began.

"We still need to kill the snak-

A magically amplified voice cut her off, carrying over the grounds and penetrating the castle.

" _Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist will be slaughtered, as well every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared._ "

Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, breath catching in her lungs. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

Harry? Dead?

She had truly let him turn himself over, held the door open for him so he could go play hero and get himself killed.

"Fuck," She felt a tear roll down her face, but honestly, she was already cried out, but that didn't stop her heart to feel like it was giving out inside her chest.

"What do we do?" Draco had his face pressed into his hands. She could hear screaming coming from The Great Hall and running feet.

She was frozen.

"Pansy, what do we do?" He shoved her, looking crazed.

Realization sank in. Harry had told her what to do, should this very situation arise.

"Harry told me to make sure the snake is killed," she murmured, already beginning to realize there was nothing else left to do but honor his request. "Then we kill Voldemort."

She met his scared grey eyes.

Her best friend, the man that she had started out with, the man who had been with her through the entire journey, the man who continually laid down his life alongside her.

Pansy thought it was fitting that she try to do this inconceivable task with Draco, no one else.

"Come on, we've got to go now," She got to her feet and grabbed his hand. They ran out of the entrance hall and outside onto the grounds, and she could hear people running behind them, streaming out into the grounds.

A large procession of people were approaching the castle. every single Death Eater, sympathizer, and beast that had been recruited. At the helm of the procession was Voldemort himself, striding forward confidently, jubilantly, the giant snake slithering at his feet.

She tensed when she saw the snake, eyes narrowing, but stayed where she was.

She needed to be closer.

Behind Voldemort was Hagrid, the old creature teacher, and in his arms was Harry.

He looked like a little boy, she thought, so small in the half-giants arms.

Dead.

Behind Pansy and Draco, a crowd was forming. She heard a scream and turned to see McGonagall completely losing it, as were several others. She watched Arthur Weasley physically restrain Ginny.

She turned from them.

"Harry Potter is dead!" Voldemort cried jubilantly, and several people shouted "NO", which only seemed to encourage him further.

"Bow before me, and I shall reward you and all will be forgiven, no questions asked," Voldemort continued.

"I'd rather die," Pansy snarled, but apparently he had heard. She blamed it on his weird snake senses.

"Ah Miss Parkinson, what a lovely surprise to see you here," He growled, sounding rather benevolent, but she could sense his hatred.

"Not much of surprise though, is it?" She countered.

"Ah yes, I have noticed that you and Draco have been missing from home," He retorted, eyes narrowing, though he held a wide smile. "And you, Draco, are you not going to even say hello?"

Beside her, Draco stiffened.

Voldemort held out his arms, as if to ask for a hug.

"Come children, come home to us all. I know your _parents_ would certainly appreciate it."

Ah, there was the not so subtle threat she had been expecting.

"Come, Draco."

She watched Lucius hobble forward, hand outstretched, beckoning to Draco.

She turned to her best friend, and she could see he was struggling. She reached out and placed a gentle hand on his forearm, right over his mark.

Their eyes met.

Draco turned to his father and shook his head no.

"Can I just say something first?" Draco asked and Pansy wanted to walk over and punch him. Was that really the time for making speeches? Now?

"Very well, Draco, I'm sure we all are quite curious as to what you have to say," Voldemort said as if someone was forcing burning coals down his throat.

Draco turned and addressed The Order, Dumbledore's Army, and all of the light side allies.

"It doesn't matter that Harry's gone. People die every day. Friends, family. We lost Harry tonight, but he's still with us, in here," he placed his hand over his heart. He met Pansy's eyes briefly and she realized what he was doing. She began edging away from him, watching as talked, as he talked about honor and bravery and heroes.

"We all have choices to make every single day, sacrifices were made, and that doesn't mean we've lost, it doesn't mean that Harry died in vain! It's not over!"

Voldemort looked like he was trying to contain his anguish.

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable politician, Draco."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over! Pansy now!" Draco cried and ran at him, not even raising his wand. A Death Eater stepped forward and began dueling Draco.

"RIGHT HERE!" Pansy ran forward and shot a killing curse at the snake.

It didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

"Well shit," she swore just as a full muscle bind overcame her. She gasped and tried to break it, muttering Latin under her breath, searching for a way free. Draco had been subdued and bound as well.

"A marvelous display of heroism, children," Voldemort growled. "It appears Miss Parkinson and Mr. Malfoy have decided they would make better Gryffindors. Perhaps the Sort Hat was wrong, Miss Parkinson, what say you?"

She felt something soft force itself over her head.

The Sorting Hat.

She also felt it heat up and people screaming. Voldemort had set it on fire.

"Let this be an example to everyone, those who defy me will be punished most severely!"

She felt something cool brushed against her face.

No, that couldn't be right….

However, she could feel things getting rather hot, so she started digging through her mental repertoire to find a curse break.

" _Sit libertas_ ," she murmured.

At once she was free. She pulled the hat off of her and looked into it, and with a wide Cheshire smile, she looked up at Voldemort, before releasing Draco from his binding.

"I guess I might have been sorted wrong after all."

Reaching in and pulling the cool object out, she heard several people gasp.

It was the sword of Gryffindor.

"KILL!" Voldemort ordered the giant snake, which slithered toward she and Draco. Voldemort raised his wand and then all hell broke lose.

Pansy turned her attention to the snake just in time, rolling out of the way.

"Look out!" Pansy cried as the side as the snake struck at them, and she watched as Draco barely escaped the fangs.

"DISTRACT IT!" She shouted and Draco stood up and began feinting to the left and the right, drawing it closer.

"Here you go, Harry, this is my last stand," she murmured and got to her feet.

Lifting the sword over her head as she ran, she leapt into the air over Draco, who had fallen backwards.

Her breathing slowed and everything got quiet as she soared over her fallen friend, colliding with the giant snake in mid-air, who had struck to meet her.

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the crowd and yet it seemed to draw every eye.

With a single stroke she sliced off the great snake's head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light of the breaking dawn, and Voldemort's let out a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to the ground at his feet

She hit the ground hard.

Voldemort raised his wand and she flinched

"AVADA-"

"PROTEGO!"

She blinked as she watched the green curse rebound off the shield, literally stopped inches from her body, and hit an unsuspecting Death Eater.

Draco crawled to her and checked her, as if unbelieving that she hadn't been hit.

Confused, she looked up to see Harry, eyes wide open.

"You sneaky little-" She shook her head in disbelief, a smile on her face.

Harry surged out of Hagrid's arms and fell to ground, very much alive. He stood up and everyone freaked.

"HARRY!"

"POTTER IS ALIVE!"

"IT CAN'T BE!"

There was a brief moment of silence, of stillness, and then it was over and the shield was broken and everyone was dueling. Giants and creatures began popping up through the fog, attacking, and reinforcements were pouring from the castle.

House elves were armed with knives and cleavers, one very ugly elf at the lead. Beside him was—

A snarling, spitting mad Effie, following close behind by Muffy, Hugo, and Dobby himself.

She couldn't linger too much on her elves sudden appearance, as she began dueling Dolohov, who really wasn't pleased to see her.

In mayhem Harry seemed to have vanished.

She subdued Dolohov almost too easily, but then out of the corner of her eye she caught Bellatrix shooting the cruciatus curse at Ginny, who narrowly managed to dodge it.

"NOT TODAY, YOU BITCH!" She roared and surged forward toward Bellatrix, who roared with laughter, all too thrilled to be facing Pansy down.

Pansy's wand slashed and twisted, meeting Bellatrix Lestrange's insane smile as jets of light flew from both wands, crackling with power, raw heat emanating from them.

She was aware that fighters on both sides had stopped to watch, though she paid no mind.

They were fighting to kill.

The ground beneath their feet was becoming hot and cracked, and the smile on Bellatrix's face was replaced with a furious snarl. Hermione and Draco ran forward as if to help her.

"Stay back! This bitch is mine!"

She only had eyes for Bellatrix.

"What will happen to your precious friends when I've killed you? What will happen when I torture them to the point of insanity, over and over again? I think I'll start with that mudblood Granger, finish what I started!"

"You — will — never — touch — my — friends — again!" Pansy cried out angrily. Bellatrix threw her head back with a laugh.

"AVADA KADAVRA!" Pansy spat and landed the spell right on the woman's heart.

Bellatrix's gloating smile froze, her eyes seemed to bulge.

For the tiniest instant, she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemort screamed.

Pansy had gotten exactly what she wanted.

"TRAITOROUS FILTH!" An outraged Voldemort blasted away the three people he was fighting and turned his wand on Pansy.

Pansy raised her wand, a cocky smile on her face.

"Sorry, I guess you forgot I have a certain proficiency with the killing curse," she taunted. "Care to test it out for yourself?"

Their spells collided in midair, but were broken when Harry once more sent up a protection spell.

"No Pansy, it has to be me this time," Harry said, his own wand drawn. "It has to end with me."

She grinned and nodded, stepping back.

Harry and Voldemort began dueling an instant later.

* * *

Sit Libertas = Let there be freedom.

Chapter 30 will be the end. I will say more there.


	30. Chapter 30

Part Three. Chapter Thirty.

"And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.

And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.

Get over your hill and see what you find there,

With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair."

-Mumford & Sons "After The Storm"

* * *

Pansy. Always.

* * *

Voldemort had fallen.

Pansy had watched in sheer disbelief as the object of nightmares, the source of hundreds of destroyed families, the perpetuator of heart break, fell at the hands of the boy who lived.

The boy who simply was entirely too lucky.

A battle won between good and evil, and this time good had finally triumphed evil.

Draco was holding Hermione and Pansy, clutching them to his chest, as they wept for joy. Hermione had ran to her as it happened, hugging her, sobbing and telling her how sorry she was for the words she had said.

Pansy forgave her wholeheartedly and completely.

Harry was nearly surrounded by fighters and well-wishers; everyone wanted to touch the boy who had saved them all.

"It's over it's over it's over," Molly Weasley was crying, grabbing hold of her children and any of the strays she had looked after over the years. At one point she came up to the three of them and hugged them tightly to her.

Apparently all could be forgiven in the wake of a battle won.

Draco pressed his lips to Hermione's temple, and she knew her best friends would somehow find happiness and the wake of everything they had been through. Her own eyes met Charlie's from across the room, and he nodded to her, looking uncertain.

"Pansy," Hermione whispered to her. "He regretted what he said instantly. He chased after you."

"He's too good for me," she replied, her voice raspy from the fight, though her eyes never left his.

"If you don't go to him right now, you are a fool," Hermione said sharply, "and you do not strike me as a fool, Pansy Parkinson."

Rolling her eyes and grumbling, she disentangled herself from them and pushed through the crowd. He met her somewhere in the middle.

"Hey," she said awkwardly, rolling her shoulders to alleviate the tension in them. He looked like hell.

"Hi," he reached for her but then stopped, before reaching again to brush against her cheek. "You have some…blood…everywhere."

She laughed drily, "so do you."

"So…" Charlie sighed, looking nervous.

"So, what do you think they did with Voldemort's body?" She asked innocently. She knew she was taunting him, but she didn't care.

"Are you really going to make me suffer right now," Charlie griped to her suddenly, "do I have to be the one to address the elephant in the room?"

"What elephant?" She pretended to look around and he swatted her.

"I'm sorry," he said, drawing closer to her, all joking out of his voice. "I'm sorry I didn't have your back, I'm sorry I doubted you, I'm sorry that I didn't do the one thing I always promised to do for you."

Now she was embarrassed and her cheeks went red, though she did lean her forehead against his.

"I love you, you idiot," she snapped and he smiled. "I get it, you know? Everything was going to shit, I don't blame you for being emotional."

He ran his hands up and down her arms and she shivered.

"So what happens now? What does the notorious Pansy Parkinson do now that she's a hero and has helped save the world?"

"Well, for starters you kiss her," she growled and his smiled widened. "And then they go home to Shell Cottage, and they sit on the beach and do sentimental new relationship stuff, and then she goes off to be a curse breaker, and he returns to his big smelly dragons, and they try and live happily after."

"So bossy," He murmured, "I like it."

And then he was kissing her and it was as if they never would need oxygen again. Every fiber in her body came alive and burned pure gold, every inch of skin responded to him, every muscle celebrated his touch.

Everyone celebrated around them, drinking and crying, singing, clutching old friends and mourning the loss of the fallen.

They must have kissed for hours, because finally Bill came to break them apart. Grinning and ruffling her hair, he pointed and she followed his attention to see Hermione, Draco, and Harry beckoning to her.

"I gotta.." she turned to Charlie, who nodded and simply waved her away.

She met them quickly, squeezing Harry's hand and bumping shoulders with Hermione. Harry led them out of the Great Hall and they made their way across the rubble of the destroyed entrance hall.

"Where are we going?" Draco asked as they followed after him.

"There's someone I need to talk to," Harry replied and let them past the crumbled gargoyle and up the winding stone staircase.

They were met with thundering applause, as every occupant, including visitors, in the portraits applauded Harry, crying and dancing and singing.

Harry was looking to one.

Dumbledore, who was weeping with pride.

Harry briefly asked him if it was okay if he left the object from the snitch, whatever that was, in the forest.

Dumbledore said yes.

They talked briefly, and then Pansy stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"You again," Dumbledore's portrait greeted her, though he was friendly. "Any luck?"

"Yeah," Pansy replied, though her brow was scrunched. "I used the Gryffindor sword, much to everyone's surprise."

"Surprising indeed," Dumbledore nodded, but he had a wry smile on his face.

"Why is that, do you think, sir? How does the sword of Gryffindor present itself to someone who is definitely not a Gryffindor?"

"There have been many experts who have debated for years as to how the sword shows allegiance," Dumbledore murmured, his fingertips splayed and pressed together. "Many attest that the sword does not ally itself singularly with Gryffindors, but with those pure of heart, the bravest of the brave. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Yes," Pansy said as her mind whirled at the information. "Interesting indeed."

"We are all given the right weapons," Dumbledore said as he let her mull over what he had told her. "A battle between wrong and right. Some of us face more enemies than others, as there is a war residing in all of us, a war that we must all fight to win; a disconcerting thought when we realize not everyone can be victorious in it."

"I'm so proud of you," Hermione put her arm around her shoulders.

"We couldn't have done it without you," Harry said, "either of you."

Draco smiled, a rare and true genuine smile.

Everything would be alright.

* * *

Fin.

* * *

AN: The quote from Dumbledore at the end was inspired by a poem by Jacob McNeil.

I know I changed the story line and added and deleted things to fit Draco and Pansy's sudden introduction into Harry and Hermione's lives. Thank you for supporting my vision.

There is a Pansy in all of us, and I am so full of love for the Pansy I have created.

Thank you everyone for your reviews, your comments, your favorites and your readership. This is my first completed story, and I am so very proud of it.

And because I adore you all, I have decided to add one additional chapter. An epilogue of sorts.


	31. Chapter 31

This is really and truly the end.

* * *

The came for her in the end, she knew they would. She leaned against the door jam at shell cottage, dressed in just an oversized black jumper, not an ounce of eye makeup on her face, as the Aurors read her rights.

You have the right to remain silent, anything you do and say can and will be used against you in a court of law. _No response_. Did she understand why she was being taken in? _Yes, she had said with raised arrogant brows_. Did she understand she had the right to a solicitor, and if she could not afford one, ( _eyeroll_ ) one would be assigned to her? _Obviously_. Did she know where Draco Malfoy was? _Upstairs_.

"Fleur, could you….please go and fetch Draco?" She had turned to the ashen woman standing in the doorway of the kitchen, towel still in her hands. Fleur gave a jerky nod, her eyes narrowed at them, and went first into the kitchen and then up the stairs. Pansy thought she saw an owl soaring away from the kitchen window.

She was calling Bill, who had been visiting George.

Charlie had argued with them, telling them she didn't need to be taken in, not in magic binding cuffs, but they had told her it was protocol, that they understood that _yes_ , she had helped Harry Potter in the end, but that she had to still stand trial for other crimes, but she also would only be held in a small holding cell in the bowels of the ministry, not Azkaban.

"She's done nothing wrong, she's proven herself!" Charlie had been outraged. Harry had put a hand on chest to hold him back, he himself arguing with the Aurors that this wasn't necessary.

"Let the men do their jobs," Pansy had told them calmly. "It's okay, Draco and I will be just fine."

Draco had come downstairs followed by a weepy and angry Hermione. The two had been sorting through antidotes for the Obliviation charm.

"You simply can't-" Hermione had snarled at them, but Draco held up his hand.

"We have to stand fair trial for what we've done before, we expected this," he told her and then kissed the top of her head. "I won't be gone long."

He hadn't been gone long either.

His trial was simple, Draco hadn't actually killed anyone. Ever. His hands were clean, he had simply stood by and _watched._ Sure, he had committed other kinds of atrocities, but Harry Potter himself absolved him of them.

Pansy was gone longer, much to her newly adopted family's anguish.

* * *

Freya Gibbon had come forward and testified against her, adamantly affirming to anyone that would listen that Pansy Parkinson was truly a death eater. Pansy had tortured her with the cruciatus curse, had murdered her father in cold blood.

The murder of Gibbon himself hadn't had as much weight, because he was after all a death eater accused of murdering many, but Freya was still threatening to sue. The torture of Freya was one of the things holding her back…

The other was Yaxley, who had suddenly spoken up during his own trial that he could give names…names that could help them punish wrongdoers, but only in exchange for a merciful sentencing. Wizengamot had responded with a "we're listening."

She had five counts of murder on her hands, as well as the torture of Freya Gibbon. They had tossed out the murder of Gibbon, simply because it had absolved them of one murderer in the process.

* * *

"Pansy Parkinson was tortured in my home for many months," Narcissa Malfoy herself (absolved for her own involvement) had testified on her behalf. "The—Dark Lord, he punished her severely for killing Gibbon and hurting the girl," she turned to glare at Freya. "He made Miss Parkinson do things, threatened her, and crucio'd her almost to point of insanity."

"Do you plead insanity, Miss Parkinson?" The Ministry judge had turned to look at her.

She shook her head and the court room tittered with ridicule. "No, I plead fear."

"Fear?"

"I killed Gibbon, I did that on my own, I..I even hurt Freya. I have a history of, well, I'm a recovering alcoholic." She turned to look down at her pale, twisted hands still cuffed in her lap. "I didn't remember that night…couldn't remember it, until The Dark Lord made me, using Legilimency. I did kill the muggleborns at the campsite, but I did it because I was told if I didn't I would be killed, and so would Draco Malfoy."

There were whisperings amongst the court and the judge roared for everyone to be quiet.

* * *

"Pansy Parkinson was tortured, I can affirm to it," Hermione Granger said on the stand.

"You witnessed it?"

"I was tortured there myself, by Bellatrix Lestrange, and when I was brought in, I saw Pansy on the ground, unconscious and bleeding, and I can assure you," she leaned forward and met several of their gazes, making them look away, "I heard her screaming all the way down in the dungeons."

* * *

"Pansy Parkinson is a victim of a war she didn't want to be a part of," Harry Potter said. He was sitting properly in his chair, but he still oozed boyish mischief.

However, everyone in the room looked at him like he was the sun itself, their golden savior, the boy that could do no wrong.

"Why say you that?"

"She and Draco Malfoy were pushed into taking sides by their parents and then blackmailed and threatened by Voldemort (here several people shrank back and gasped as if pain from hearing the name) himself. If you punish Pansy Parkinson, if you do not absolve her of her crimes, then I will condemn the entire Ministry of Magic."

The courtroom went into an uproar at that.

* * *

She had been gone three months before she could finally make it back to Shell Cottage. Charlie and Bill had been the ones to pick her up from the Ministry after a quiet out-of-court ruling had been made.

The court could not find reasonable evidence that would suggest that Pansy Parkinson had willfully killed the five muggleborns at the campsite during the war.

Due to her commitment and aid to winning the war, she was absolved of those crimes completely.

She sent a missive to the Daily Prophet, which printed her entire page-long apology to the families and the rest of the wizarding community for what she had done, and that she would forever live wishing things could have been different.

She had been ordered to pay the Gibbon family five thousand galleons in damages.

Her name was wiped clean.

Charlie had held her tightly, as she was released from her cuffs, and not let her go for several minutes.

Finally, he had released her and she had been immediately swept up into Bill's arms.

"Let's go home," she had said finally.

* * *

Her parents had not resurfaced from the war, and they had not withdrawn any money from their vaults in well over a year. After much debate, she hired a small team of Aurors to track them down.

They returned two weeks later. Two bodies had been found, murdered, in a small inn in an even smaller village in Austria, and preserved by magic.

The Death Eater insignia had been written in blood on the wall of the room.

Pansy inherited everything, as they had never gotten around to legally disowning her.

* * *

And life somehow, went on, the best it can after a horrible bloody war. Memorials were put up, people dealt with their problems, and they tried to beat on against the current.

Harry and Ginny announced their engagement. They had moved into Grimmauld Place and were remodeling it. She, a member of the Holyhead Harpies, and he, an Auror in training.

They came around often, and were quite blissfully happy to be able to be together at last.

* * *

Fleur and Bill were pregnant, which delighted everyone. Pansy and Hermione had moved into Shell Cottage, as they hadn't anywhere else really to go, as did Draco. Bill and Fleur said they never minded giving homes to strays.

* * *

Hermione found out, heartbreakingly, that some charms could not be reversed, no matter how hard she, Draco, and Pansy tried to undo it.

Her parents would live in Australia, happily, for the rest of their lives, completely unaware that they had a daughter.

Draco still loved his parents, and he always would. He didn't go home much, a small occasion here and there, but it seemed to suffice. His parents knew they had gone too far and were committed to building back the trust slowly.

Narcissa wrote Pansy every week, determined to mother the un-motherable girl.

Draco and Hermione fell in love in the usual way, the way it always happens. Stolen kisses here, a gentle hand-hold there, and soon, a deep burning infatuation with each other, that turns out, none of the Weasley's found they actually minded.

To deny one of them was to deny all of the Weasley children who loved them both, so Molly and Arthur loved them, too.

* * *

Charlie asked her to marry him on Christmas of that year. She had cried so hard she couldn't even get the word "yes" out, but he knew what she meant. They had a small, intimate ceremony with only the people they loved the most, and then it was all said an done, never before fathoming just how absolutely ecstatic she would be to become Pansy Weasley.

Bill made good on his word, and she was accepted into the curse breaker guild. After a quick six-months of training and school, she was deemed ready and became his assistant. They split their time between London and Egypt, and she loved every minute of it, coming home for a few weeks at a time to be with their spouses and children.

Yes, children.

* * *

Pansy gave Charlie three children, all daughters. They named them Asha, Amata, and Altheda, after the three witches in the Fountain of Fair Fortune, Pany's favorite beedle the bard tale.

Pansy, it turned out, made a very good mother. Though she had had to leave for several weeks on end, she loved them fully and completely and honestly and she was a constant presence in their lives, even if she couldn't always be around. Eventually, she retired and became a full time product developer for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

It worked out alright, after all, they had Effie, Muffy, Hugo, and a dragon reserve full of researchers to keep them entertained and safe while mum was away with Uncle Bill.

Harry the famous chief Auror and Ginny, captain of the Holyhead harpies and then eventual Quidditch correspondent, had three children: James, Albus, and Lily.

Hermione and Draco had three children as well: Scorpius, Rosaline, and Leo.

Hermione divided her time between being a researcher and practicing magical law, until she became the first female Minister of Magic, and certainly the first muggleborn.

Draco had multiple business ventures, including a strong partnership with Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, and worked as a freelance Master of Potions.

Bill and Fleur, again with the golden ratio of three, had Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. Bill worked until he simply couldn't anymore, at a very old age, and Fleur enjoyed being a stay at home housewife, though she did write a very popular semi-fiction romance novel centered around the war, entitled _Dark Places_.

And standing on the platform of 9 3/4 with her children and family every first of September, dressed in long (and light-colored) robes, Pansy Weasley was reminded that she finally had found the light.

It had been many years since she saw the ghosts of her past.

Everything was alright.

* * *

AN: Thank you again for all of your love and support. I wanted to make sure that justice was served in some way and that Pansy and Draco had to at least face the skeletons in their closets completely. I gave Pansy a life I thought she deserved, a normal life she never had, and in that sense, I think I laid this version of Pansy to rest in a very soothing way.

Feel free to ask me any questions you have, I would be most happy to answer them.

 _ **If you enjoyed this story, please read + review my new story: Aftermath. I believe you will like it just as much.**_

I love you for reading.

-O


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